Republican Flake’s statement ‘completely nonsense’: Analyst

An American political analyst has rejected as “completely nonsense” the former Republican Senator Jeff Flake’s statement that at least 35 Republican senators would vote to impeach President Donald Trump and remove him from office if they could vote privately, saying that the numbers would definitely fail to reach a quorum for impeachment proceeding at the Senate.

Daniel Patrick Welch made the comments in an interview with Press TV on Saturday, after Flake — a frequent critic of Trump — predicted that close to three dozen Republican senators would back in private the Republican president’s impeachment.

“It’s nothing but public; It’s an absolutely and extremely public event, and there is no way on God’s green earth that 35 would vote publicly to convict this president, probably any president,” Welch said.

“The whole thing is going nowhere, there is no way, you need 67 votes to convict in the Senate and there is absolutely no way to get there; so, it’s about the political theater, about chaining Trump to accept the narrative for the election campaign,” he added.

PressTV-35 Republican senators would impeach Trump: Ex-senator

Former Republican US Senator Jeff Flake said that he thinks at least 35 Republican senators would vote to impeach President Donald Trump.

'People want real change'

The American political analyst also said that people in some certain states like Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania are not going to be stimulated to vote due to the controversial issues surrounding the last election.

“They are angry and upset; they want real change, and the establishment is completely dead set against any change; they don’t want a progressive nominee, they don’t want any sort of social democratic program and they will do whatever they can to stop it,” Welch said.

"I think that the chief point of this impeachment proceeding is to prevent any pressure from the social democratic base of people who want real solutions to problems that are hurting them and to put this albatross on this candidate so they can only run on DNC’s chosen narrative," he added, referring to the Democratic National Committee.

Flake served in the Senate from 2013 until 2019, representing the state of Arizona. He was also a member of the US House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Congress, from 2001 until 2013.

The House of Representatives on Tuesday launched an official impeachment investigation of Trump after he encouraged a foreign leader to conduct a probe that could damage a political rival.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, announced the investigation at a news conference, declaring “no one is above the law.”

PressTV-US House launches impeachment inquiry into Trump

The US House announces the start of a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump over the so-called Ukraine scandal.

There has been growing support among Democratic Party lawmakers for the move after Trump acknowledged that he asked Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate the son of presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Under the US Constitution, the president can be removed from office for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Many legal experts have said that pressuring a foreign leader to interfere in a US election is considered an impeachable offense.

If a majority of the House’s 435 members approves bringing charges, known as “articles of impeachment,” the process moves to the Senate, the upper chamber, which holds a trial to determine the president’s guilt.

A two-thirds majority vote is required in the 100-member Senate to convict and remove a president.

The House has 235 Democrats, 199 Republicans, and one independent. As a result, the Democrats could impeach Trump with no Republican support. However, The Republican majority in the Senate could vote to immediately dismiss the charges against Trump without considering evidence.

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