House majority leader James Clyburn is resisting calls from other Democrats to try impeachment President Trump through a connection in which he pressured the Georgia Secretary of State to “find” enough votes to win the state election. Clyburn said that impeachment efforts so close to the end of Trump’s presidency would be a “waste” of Congressional time.
“I would like someone to tell me how we can write an impeachment process and do it all in 14-15 days. I don’t see how it can be done, so why waste our time dealing with something that just can’t be done? “The South Carolina Democrat told” Red & Blue “anchor Elaine Quijano on Tuesday.
“I would advise us to leave this activity because it looks like they were violating state laws, as well as federal laws,” he said. “This is where the investigation should take place.”
Trump’s term ends on January 20, when President-elect Joe Biden takes office. Trump, however, tried unsuccessfully to fight the election result, falsely claiming that there was widespread fraud. The president even put pressure on Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, to change the vote in his favor, which the Georgia official refused.
Some Democrats are now calling for a criminal investigation into Trump’s actions. Congressman Ted Lieu of California and Congresswoman Kathleen Rice of New York asked the FBI to investigate the call in a letter on Monday.
Although Clyburn rejected the idea of impeachment, he was more open to possible charges from the Justice Department.
“It all depends on what the charges are,” said Clyburn. “If you are talking about the misuse of your position with respect to this election, the election will be over. The Electoral College will have done its job and that will be left behind. But if there are other issues that come to the Justice Department’s attention, I think the Justice Department should do its job. “
“It does not mean that the president should be involved in this. He would not be involved in this,” added Clyburn. “But that means that any court official, including the attorney general, would do whatever was necessary to seek justice on behalf of the American people. And so what the Department of Justice will do as an independent agency, it must do. not Biden. Biden would have a job big enough trying to get us out of this pandemic and trying to put this economy back on an equal footing. “
Trump was impeached in December 2019 by the Democratic-controlled House. The Republican-controlled Senate acquitted the president.