Friday was certainly a win for those hoping the Donald Trump is booted out of the Presidency before the 2020 election. Federal prosecutors said for the first time that Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, acted at the direction of Trump while committing two election-related crimes. Court filings also showed that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has evidence that Russia and the Trump campaign had political synergy (or collusion) dating back to the fall of 2015.
This mountain of evidence could very well lead to an impeachment trial in 2019, but the Republican-controlled Senate would have to vote in favor of removing Trump from office. Convincing 20 Republicans to turn on a President that is beloved by the brunt of its base would be next to impossible.
Even if Mueller has hard evidence of egregious Trump actions, it might not be enough to bring the President down. Would, say, the release of the infamous Trump “pee tape” be enough to rattle Trump’s base?
Russian President Vladimir Putin did not exactly deny that he has compromising material on Trump when asked by reporters this past summer. So it could very well be that the tape – or something even worse – is “out there somewhere.”
If Mueller was able to get his hands on photos or video of the alleged “compromising material” Putin owns on Trump, could the Special Counsel first ask Trump to resign?
The right-leaning news media was in defense mode Saturday morning regarding any thoughts from the left that impeachment is a good idea. If you simply Googled, “Trump Impeach” the first article that showed up was a Fox News Mark Penn column titled, “House Democrats shouldn’t impeach Trump – It will anger voters and the Senate won’t remove him.”
On the flip side, here is what MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell had to say Friday night regarding a possible Trump impeachment.
“What I’m hearing from Democrats, especially throughout the campaign season, where Nancy Pelosi issued an order that said don’t any of you talk about impeachment, don’t do it,” O’Donnell said. “I understand the calculation there. I don’t necessarily believe in it, but now we’re crossing legal lines here and it seems the Democrats are running the risk of possibly allowing crimes like what the president has been accused of to stand because they consider it a political calculation, whether you go forward with an impeachment hearing.”
