President Donald Trump addressed the calls from some Democrats to begin impeachment proceedings against him in the wake of the release of the Mueller report, claiming that there was “no crimes” committed by him.
“Only high crimes and misdemeanors can lead to impeachment. There were no crimes by me (No Collusion, No Obstruction), so you can’t impeach. It was the Democrats that committed the crimes, not your Republican President! Tables are finally turning on the Witch Hunt!” Trump wrote on Monday morning.
Only high crimes and misdemeanors can lead to impeachment. There were no crimes by me (No Collusion, No Obstruction), so you can’t impeach. It was the Democrats that committed the crimes, not your Republican President! Tables are finally turning on the Witch Hunt!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 22, 2019
Last week the highly-anticipated report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller was released with some redactions.
In it, the special counsel’s team said it could not establish that Trump’s campaign worked with Russia to influence the 2016 election, but also listed a number of instances where it appeared the president tried to curtail the investigation.
It also did not “exonerate” the president on the issue of obstruction of justice, instead laying out numerous instances of discussions and actions by Trump amid the probe.
“If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state,” the report reads. “Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment. The evidence we obtained about the president’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
Trump’s tweet on Monday comes as some Democrats—including 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—call for impeachment proceedings to move forward.
Other Democrats, however, have downplayed the idea.
Meanwhile, some people have pointed out that Trump’s insistence that he could not be impeached because there were “no crimes by me” would not stop a potential proceeding from occurring because impeachment is a political process.
Of course, impeachment can be for abuses of power that don’t meet the legal definition of a crime. House GOP drafted an “abuse of power” article against Clinton that failed: https://t.co/jIlYz4Xyej https://t.co/OeB7acU3SR
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) April 22, 2019
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