House Democrats, optimistic about regaining control of Congress in November, say President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have committed impeachable offenses and should be removed from office.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who is poised to become House Judiciary Committee chairman if Democrats win back the majority, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Mr. Trump has “undoubtably” committed crimes worthy of impeachment.
“We don’t even have time to scratch the surface,” Mr. Raskin said, adding that the list of offenses is topped by the president’s tearing down of the East Wing to build a ballroom.
“If you can bulldoze the East Wing, he can bulldoze the West Wing. He believes that he is a king,” Mr. Raskin said.
Democrats say they are also prepared to remove Mr. Hegseth through the impeachment process.
“I believe he has been a hazard to American national security and a disgrace to the office,” Democratic candidate Cait Conley, who is running in New York’s 17th House District, told CNNs “State of the Union.” “I would absolutely support removing him from office because his actions and decisions are failing service members who have sworn an oath to this country and deserve respect.”
Capitol Hill lawmakers in both parties criticized Mr. Hegseth over leadership clashes that culminated in the resignation of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. Only one Republican — Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who is not running for re\election — is calling on Mr. Trump to fire Mr. Hegseth.
Sen. John Kennedy, Louisiana Republican, told “Meet the Press” that he’s not on board with ousting Mr. Hegseth but has questions about staff firings.
“He’s consolidating power. That’s clear. He seems to be firing some pretty good people. Whether they deserve it or not, I don’t know,” Mr. Kennedy said. “I voted for him. I probably would vote for him again until evidence is shown to me that he shouldn’t have fired these guys.”
Democratic leaders said they don’t have specific plans to impeach the president but are in no way ruling it out.
Mr. Raskin called impeachment “a critical tool in the toolbox for constitutional self-defense against a president acting like a king, an imperious, lawless, arrogant king.”
He said impeachment “is not taboo for us,” even though Democrats impeached Mr. Trump twice during his first term and the Senate voted against removing him from office.
Democrats, Mr. Raskin said, will weigh impeachment alongside the rest of the party’s agenda, “like getting health care back to our people because they’ve thrown millions of people off their health care with the Medicaid cuts and the destruction of the [Obamacare] tax credits.”
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