Judge Nap on impeachment: ‘Congress can impeach anybody for the reasons set forth in the Constitution’

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Trump threatens to go to Supreme Court if Democrats try to impeach. Is that possible?

Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said Thursday Congress can impeach anyone they want “for the reasons set forth in the Constitution and the courts have no say in it," responding to President Trump's pledge that he would go all the way to the Supreme Court if the “partisan” Democrats try to impeach him.

Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said Thursday Congress can impeach anyone they want “for the reasons set forth in the Constitution and the courts have no say in it," responding to President Trump's pledge that he would go all the way to the Supreme Court if the “partisan” Democrats try to impeach him.

Napolitano made the statement on “Fox & Friends” Thursday, the morning after President Trump vowed to go all the way to the Supreme Court, asserting there are “no crimes by me at all” following the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

Trump tweeted Wednesday: “The Mueller Report, despite being written by Angry Democrats and Trump Haters, and with unlimited money behind it ($35,000,000), didn’t lay a glove on me. I DID NOTHING WRONG. If the partisan Dems ever tried to Impeach, I would first head to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Napolitano weighed in on Thursday, saying: “The bottom line is, there’s nothing he can do about it because impeachment is political. There has to be a legal basis for it. Treason, bribery, and then there’s that fudgy phrase, other high crimes, and misdemeanors.”

“When Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton were the subject of articles of impeachment the high crimes and misdemeanors included obstruction of justice. So we know historically obstruction of justice can be a basis for impeachment but the courts won't get involved.”

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The president’s tweet came as congressional Democrats debate whether to initiate impeachment proceedings against him. During a conference call on Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., along with her leadership team, was clear that there were no immediate plans to move forward with impeachment.

Meanwhile, on Monday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., subpoenaed former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify publicly next month following last week's release of Mueller's Russia report.

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Nadler described McGahn, who stepped down as White House counsel in October 2018, as "a critical witness to many of the alleged instances of obstruction of justice and other misconduct described in the Special Counsel's report."

In response, Napolitano said Thursday: “This will get to the courts because these subpoenas are valid and when they ask you to come and testify, you can ignore them. When they send you a subpoena you can’t ignore them, you have to do something with the supoena. Either comply with it or bring it to your lawyer and have your lawyer challenge it, which is apparently what the president is going to do.”

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“Don McGahn doesn't work for the government anymore, so he could walk in to Jerry Nadler's committee hearing room and just take the oath and start testifying, I don't think he’s going to do that, I think he’s going to defer to the White House’s wishes, which is to challenge the subpoena. So ultimately a judge will decide.”