In what was far from a softball interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week,” House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler alleged that Democrats’ impeachment effort has majority support from the American people. He also insisted that the attempt to remove President Trump from the White House must be done in order to safeguard the integrity of America’s elections.
As reported in The Hill, Nadler made these claims in response to a video clip of an earlier interview between he and the ABC anchor. Stephanopoulos played the March ’19 interview for Nadler in which the top Democrat said: “Before you impeach somebody, you have to persuade the American public that it ought to happen. You have to persuade enough of the opposition party voters, Trump voters… that you’re not just trying to steal–to reverse the results of the last election.”
After playing the clip for Nadler, Stephanopoulos observed that” Republican voters overwhelmingly oppose impeachment right now,” before asking bluntly: “Haven’t you failed your own test?”
H/T @ThisWeekABC
.@GStephanopoulos "Republican voters overwhelmingly oppose impeachment…Haven't you failed your own test?"
"I don't think so," Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler says, adding that Pres. Trump "poses a continuing threat to our national security." https://t.co/P6iz1j1VA4 pic.twitter.com/LpQbzTBR23
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 15, 2019
Chairman Nader, however, did not agree with Stephanopoulos’ logic.
“Well, I don’t think so. The polling shows that about 70% of the American people approve of of this,” Nadler responded. At his point, Stephanopoulos interjected that, while a majority of Americans may believe “something’s wrong,” there is no poll indicating that 7 out of 10 Americans want President Trump removed from office. Yet, Congressman Nadler spoke over and ignored Stephanopoulos’ point, proceeding to argue: “This is a continuing threat to the integrity of our elections now. This is not a one-off — impeachment is not a punishment for past behavior.”
The Democratic leader then declared that “we cannot permit” Trump to threaten “our Democratic system” or “national security,” doubling down on his party’s effort to cut President Trump’s first term short.
Sources: The Hill, ABC This Week
Written by Red Blue Divide editorial staff