Fox News Channel contributor Geraldo Rivera blasted the House Democrats’ impeachment process against President Donald Trump on Tuesday, calling it “an act of Constitutional vandalism.”
“Desperate to avoid judgment of American people in our national elections in November 2020, House Democrats have unleashed awesome power of #Impeachment. Based strictly on party politics & fear & loathing of @realDonaldTrump, they have committed an act of constitutional vandalism,” Rivera wrote on Twitter.
House Democrats announced two articles of impeachment against Trump Tuesday, charging him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) announced the charges on Capitol Hill, and was joined by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Chairmen Adam Schiff (D-CA) of the Intelligence Committee, Maxine Waters (D-CA) of the Financial Services Committee, Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) of the Oversight Committee, Richard Neal (D-MA) of the Ways and Means Committee, and Eliot Engel (D-NY) of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Declaring Trump had “violated his oath of office,” Nadler said the president had been charged with “committing high crimes and misdemeanors” under powers granted to the House by the U.S. Constitution.
Trump “consistently puts himself above the country,” Nadler said, adding the president’s actions in seeking to obtain political favors from Ukraine, and then by refusing to cooperate with the resulting investigation, left the House with “no choice” but to resort to impeachment.
Schiff said House leaders made the decision to move ahead rather than wait for the 2020 election to let voters decide partly because the president’s actions have placed the integrity of the election into jeopardy.
“‘Why don’t you let him cheat in one more election?'” Schiff asked rhetorically. “That is what that argument amounts to.”
Ahead of the announcement, Rivera slammed House Democrats’ effort as “wholly partisan” and said it is “surely doomed.”
“It will rebound vs them when the #Senate resoundingly rejects their fraught #ArticlesOfImpeachment Not a single Republican will join them. Some Democrats will abandon them. This is drunk history” he added.
Trump slammed House Democrats leaders after concluding their press conference, calling Nadler’s accusations “ridiculous.”
“Nadler just said that I “pressured Ukraine to interfere in our 2020 Election.” Ridiculous, and he knows that is not true. Both the President & Foreign Minister of Ukraine said, many times, that there “WAS NO PRESSURE.” Nadler and the Dems know this, but refuse to acknowledge!” he tweeted.
In a subsequent tweet, the president called Schiff a “totally corrupt politician,” who will have to “answer” for fabricating a conversation between himself and the leader of Ukraine.
“Shifty Schiff, a totally corrupt politician, made up a horrible and fraudulent statement, read it to Congress, and said those words came from me. He got caught, was very embarrassed, yet nothing happened to him for committing this fraud. He’ll eventually have to answer for this!” he wrote.
The UPI contributed to this report.
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