(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, says the possible impeachment of President Trump will depend on the “public’s mood.”
The day after Judiciary Committee Democrats requested information from 81 individuals and groups, Cohen said he’s “sure” that Trump has obstructed justice and violated the emoluments clause, all while abusing the press and various judges.
“It’s amazing what has gone on,” Cohen told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday. “And it is our job to protect the Constitution and the rule of law. So we’ll have hearings; if the evidence comes in such degree that the public’s mood and the Republicans’ mood change, where we can be successful with impeachment, then impeachment could come.
“But it’s not going to come until the Republicans stop acting like acolytes and start acting like bishops and knights and stand up for the country and not for their leader, who may have committed — and I believe has committed innumerable improper and illegal acts.”
The Judiciary Committee, now chaired by Democrat Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) intends to produce a steady stream of “evidence” in the months and years ahead, all in an effort to convince Americans that the man elected to the presidency is unworthy of the office.
However, as Blitzer noted, a new Quinnipiac poll shows that only 35 percent of voters believe Congress should begin impeachment proceedings. “Is that a warning sign to Democrats?” Blitzer asked Cohen.
“I think that’s why Speaker Pelosi and other leaders in the party think that we shouldn’t do impeachment yet, because the public is not behind it,” Cohen said. “And it can only be done if it’s politically salable to two-thirds of the Senate, who are in charge of the facts.
“But some of those people — I don’t know what percentage — probably think we shouldn’t vote down impeachment because they don’t want to see Mike Pence become president. So that’s a group that you have to take into consideration, too,” Cohen added.
On his radio program Tuesday, Rush Limbaugh said Democrats expect Donald Trump — now rising in the polls — to be re-elected in 2020. And that explains why Nadler’s committee is doing such a far-reaching search for a crime: “This is to prep impeachment for 2021 and beyond,” Limbaugh said.
“If they thought they could beat Trump at the ballot box, I don’t think they would be doing all of this,” Limbaugh added.
For the record, Nadler himself said his committee needs to convince the American public that Democrats are not trying to “steal” the election:
“Before you impeach somebody, you have to persuade the American public that it ought to happen,” Nadler told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “You have to persuade enough of the — of the opposition party voters, Trump voters, that you’re not just trying to … trying to steal the last” (here he corrected himself) “to reverse the results of the last election. We may or may not get there,” Nadler said. “But what we have to do is protect the rule of law.”
