Rep. Johnson: Dems' 'Ultimate Goal' with Impeachment Was to Frame Trump Supporters
'They really wanted to use impeachment as a vehicle'
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Rep. Mike Johnson said Democrats used their efforts to impeach Donald Trump to frame 75 million Americans who voted for him as "rioters" at the Capitol.
Democrat impeachment manager, Jamie Raskin, said they have “no regrets” about Trump’s acquittal, claiming the impeachment trial was a “dramatic success" despite the loss.
But what was the success?
The answer to that, Johnson said, was their “ultimate goal” to frame Trump’s supporters.
“They really wanted to use impeachment as a vehicle because they wanted to equate all those tens of millions of Trump’s voters and all of his supporters and everybody who came to the rally, they wanted to equate all of those people with the couple hundred criminals who came in and ransacked the Capitol,” Johnson told Breitbart News.
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“If [Democrats’] new impeachment standard is to take hold, most of the party leadership in the Democrats will have to be censured or impeached themselves,” Johnson added.
“I thought Trump’s attorneys did such a great job with their video montage where they showed all these guys — even the impeachment managers themselves — using the exact same language that they were trying to incriminate the president by using.”
Johnson remarked:
“[Trump] has always stood for law and order and defense of the Constitution. He’s always opposed mob violence.”
Johnson said impeachment might be used more frequently by Democrats as a political tool.
“You are lowering the bar [for impeachment] now. You weaponized this."
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"You turned it into a political weapon to be used by the majority party against a president they don’t like. You opened a Pandora’s box that we may never be able to close again.”
Johnson added:
“The whole trial was unconstitutional … because the 45th president doesn’t hold any public office now. He’s a private citizen who lives in Florida. The Constitution limits the authority of the Senate in cases of impeachment to removal from office.”
“This was not a constitutional exercise,” Johnson repeated.
“What [Democrats] tried to do [is] to raise ‘cancel culture’ now to a constitutional level.”
Joe Biden issued a statement following Trump’s acquittal, arguing the “substance of the charge” was “not in dispute.”
“Today, 57 Senators – including a record 7 Republicans – voted to find former President Trump guilty for inciting that deadly insurrection on our very democracy."The Senate vote followed the bipartisan vote to impeach him by the House of Representatives."
"While the final vote did not lead to a conviction, the substance of the charge is not in dispute."
"Even those opposed to the conviction, like Senate Minority Leader McConnell, believe Donald Trump was guilty of a 'disgraceful dereliction of duty' and 'practically and morally responsible for provoking' the violence unleashed on the Capitol.”
