Democrats, media in a frenzy over impeachment following Mueller's statement
GOP strategist Gus Portela reacts to the push to impeach President Trump.
MSNBC’s Donny Deutsch said Friday that Democrats should no longer use the word “impeachment” due to political risks associated with it and instead brand President Trump a "criminal."
The host of MSNBC’s “Saturday Night Politics” appeared on the “Morning Joe” to offer some free advice to the Democratic Party in its fight against the White House.
TRUMP BLASTS MUELLER AS 'HIGHLY CONFLICTED,' CALLS IMPEACHMENT A 'DIRTY, FILTHY, DISGUSTING WORD'
“We know Trump broke the law,” Deutsch said. “Here’s the answer, you take it from a binary choice of two lanes, you create a third lane. You take the word impeachment, and you change it to criminal activity.”
The pundit went on to say that Democrats should point to the Robert Mueller report that, in his view, found that Trump obstructed justice.
“We are going to initiate and continue the ongoing Trump criminal investigations … Trump criminal, Trump criminal investigations,” Deutsch said.
“Take the word impeachment away — it’s a losing word, it’s a 30-year-old word that does not help us. Change the discussion.”
“Take the word impeachment away — it’s a losing word, it’s a 30-year-old word that does not help us. Change the discussion. Even Trump says it’s a disgusting word. It’s a disgusting word for Democrats.”
Mueller said in his first and only public statement of his tenure as special counsel on Wednesday that he neither had “confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime” nor that he could “determine whether the president did commit a crime.”
He explained the longstanding Justice Department policy, which states that a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime, noting that “charging the president with a crime was not an option we could consider.”
“We concluded that we would not reach a determination one way or the other about whether the president committed a crime,” Mueller continued. “That is the office’s final position.”
Mueller added that it would be “unfair to accuse someone of a crime when there could be no court resolution of the charge.”
Deutsch’s suggestions prompted disagreement on the set of the show, with Republican strategist Susan Del Percio saying that the different language in the end won’t change anything.
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“Here is problem, though, where are they going to do with it, Donny?” she said. “At the end of the day, it’s either impeachment or not. You can brand it the way you want, but there is a constitutional responsibility at stake, and a lot of Americans are okay with seeing them step up and fight for what’s right.”
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