A conservative attorney has sharply dismissed President Donald Trump’s attempts to prosecute six Democratic members of Congress.
Fox News legal analyst and National Review editor Andrew McCarthy said the Justice Department’s efforts to bring criminal charges against Democrats make it more likely that Trump will be impeached again.
Trump was impeached twice during his first term. In each case, the Senate acquitted him of all charges.
“If Democrats regain control of the House of Representatives after the November midterm elections, the president will be immediately impeached, and his abuse of power will most likely lead to that outcome,” McCarthy wrote in an op-ed published in National Review on Wednesday.
“This will be the fallout from yesterday’s reported failed attempt by the Trump Justice Department to criminally charge the ‘Incitement Six’ as Trump supporters labeled these Democrats as such.”
McCarthy personally described Trump’s attacks on the six Democrats as “intolerable” and “impeachable.” He wrote that there were “no reasonable grounds for indictment” against Sens. Mark Kelly (Ariz.) and Elissa Slotkin (Mich.) and Reps. Jason Crow (Colorado), Maggie Goodland (N.H.), Chrissy Hoolahan (Pennsylvania) and Chris DeLucio (Pennsylvania).
The Democrats became a target of Trump last year after they released a joint video reminding service members and members of the intelligence community of their responsibility to refuse illegal orders. Trump called for Democrats to be arrested, saying in a post on The Truth Society that their messages amounted to “incitement punishable by death!”
Federal prosecutors argued to a Washington grand jury on Tuesday that Democratic lawmakers violated federal statutes prohibiting interference with the loyalty, morale or discipline of the U.S. armed forces.
A grand jury declined to approve the charges brought by the U.S. Attorney against the office of DC Jeanine Pirro.
McCarthy wrote that Democrats “are simply not guilty.” He went on to accuse Trump of using the criminal justice system to target political opponents.
“The president’s signature policy is not just capricious tariffs but bullying of the law—a tin-pot dictator-like use of law enforcement power to punish political opponents and scapegoats and settle scores,” McCarthy wrote.
Democrats in Congress also publicly defended their colleagues, sounding the same alarm as McCarthy.
Speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said Trump’s use of the Justice Department to target lawmakers could threaten the rule of law.
“The fact that they failed to jail a U.S. senator should not take away our anger. They tried to jail two of us,” Schatz said. “I’m not entirely sure the U.S. Senate can get through this without Republicans stepping up.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Tracking the Trump Administration
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