Trump may have committed ‘impeachable offense’: Democratic lawmaker
US President Donald Trump may have committed an “impeachable offense,” a top Democrat says, amid reports of critical breakthroughs in a long-running investigation into the Trump campaign’s alleged “collusion” with Russia.
Representative Jerry Nadler, who is the favorite to head the next House Judiciary Committee, made the remarks on Sunday, a day after federal prosecutors detailed a previously unknown attempt by a Russian to help Trump’s 2016 election campaign.
"They would be impeachable offenses, whether they are important enough to justify an impeachment is a different question, but certainly they'd [be] impeachable offenses because even though they were committed before the president became president, they were committed in the service of fraudulently obtaining the office," Nadler told CNN.
"The new Congress will not try to shield the president," he added. "We will try to get to the bottom of this in order to serve the American people and to stop this massive fraud on the American people."
The investigation, led by US Special Counsel Robert Mueller, made the headlines on Friday, after a court filing revealed that Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, had provided Mueller with “useful information concerning certain discrete Russia-related matters core to its investigation.
According to the papers, Cohen also claimed he was approached in November 2015 by an unnamed Russian claiming to be a “‘trusted person’ in the Russian Federation”. The court filing said the contact occurred during discussions about a possible hotel bearing Trump’s name in Moscow.
Cohen is to be sentenced next week for campaign finance violations, financial crimes and lying to Congress about Trump’s business dealings in Russia. Prosecutors are seeking a substantial prison sentence.
Mueller’s office also revealed in their court filing that Paul Manafort, the former chairman of Trump’s election campaign, lied to them about several contacts he had with senior Trump administration officials while he was under indictment.
Nadler, stopped short of saying whether the allegations would automatically lead to impeachment proceedings if proven.
"An impeachment is an attempt to, in effect, overturn or change the result of the last election, and you should do it only in very serious situations, so that's always the question," he said.
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