Eric Holder: If Trump Told Cohen To Lie, Impeachment Proceedings 'Must Begin'
Former Attorney General Eric Holder calls on congress to remove Trump
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Former Attorney General Eric Holder called for impeachment proceedings to start citing a report from BuzzFeed.
"If true - and proof must be examined - Congress must begin impeachment proceedings,” Holder tweeted Friday.
“[William] Barr must refer, at a minimum, the relevant portions of material discovered by Mueller. This is a potential inflection point,” he added, referring to Trump’s nominee for attorney general.
A House Democrat also said that if president Trump instructed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress, it could be grounds for the President's impeachment and removal from office.
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“If this report is true that the president of the United States violated the law, if he told Michael Cohen to commit perjury then, certainly that’s going to go into the whole discussion we have about whether or not he, the president, should continue to be in office,” Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., told MSNBC Friday morning.
This was the Democrats response when asked if impeachment may appear on the horizon following a BuzzFeed report claiming Trump told Cohen to lie about a potential business deal in Russia.
Trump has maintained that he was not talking with Russia in 2015 or 2016 concerning any business deal.
According to the Washington Examiner: But the report indicates that Trump asked Cohen to handle a Russia skyscraper deal and provide updates on its progression.
Deutch said the new report might not be the only impeachable offense against Trump, depending on the results of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
But Deutch also indicated that it would be partly up to Republicans whether Trump is removed from office.
If true - and proof must be examined - Congress must begin impeachment proceedings and Barr must refer, at a minimum, the relevant portions of material discovered by Mueller. This is a potential inflection point. https://t.co/iaZmiHgL7L
— Eric Holder (@EricHolder) January 18, 2019
I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law. It is called “advice of counsel,” and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. That is why they get paid. Despite that many campaign finance lawyers have strongly......
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018
....stated that I did nothing wrong with respect to campaign finance laws, if they even apply, because this was not campaign finance. Cohen was guilty on many charges unrelated to me, but he plead to two campaign charges which were not criminal and of which he probably was not...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018
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"If it's clear that he broke the law, will there be Republicans who are willing to stand up for the Constitution and the oath of office that the president appears to have violated," he said.
Michael Cohen was sentenced to 36 months in prison for violating campaign finance laws last year after FBI agents raided his offices.
Cohen blamed Trump claiming he ordered him to pay off two women who claimed to have had affairs with the president to stop it influencing the 2016 US election.
Trump took to Twitter to defend himself and put Cohen claims to rest "I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law," Trump said.
"He was a lawyer, and he is supposed to know the law. It is called “advice of counsel,” and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. That is why they get paid. Despite that many campaign finance lawyers have strongly stated that I did nothing wrong with respect to campaign finance laws, if they even apply, because this was not campaign finance. Cohen was guilty on many charges unrelated to me, but he plead to two campaign charges which were not criminal and of which he probably was not guilty even on a civil bases [sic]. Those charges were just agreed to by him in order to embarrass the president and get a much-reduced prison sentence, which he did-including the fact that his family was temporarily let off the hook. As a lawyer, Michael has great liability to me!"
