Publicly Committing an Impeachable Offense Makes Abuse of Power Worse
Statement of Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen
Note: While speaking with reporters at the White House, President Donald Trump today urged China to investigate his political rival, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son.
President Trump is under the misimpression that if he keeps committing impeachable offenses, he can somehow normalize them and escape accountability.
But the facts remain: Urging foreign countries to investigate a political rival to advance the president’s own personal interests is an outrageous abuse of power and an impeachable offense. Doing it over and over again – in public and private – only makes the abuse worse.
As the polls show public support for impeachment fast rising, Trump is growing ever more desperate. But by now the public is anesthetized to his trickery. He’s not going to be able to whitewash, normalize or muck up this story. And his efforts to do so will only further solidify the case for impeachment in the public’s mind.
If he wants to talk about China and corruption, he might want to explain the strange circumstances around China’s approval of his and Ivanka Trump’s copyright requests.
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