The Democratic base wants President Donald Trump impeached, even if the party's leaders in Congress don't think it's a good idea, so presidential candidates will be pulled in that direction, former U.S. Attorney Andy McCarthy said Tuesday.
"I've always thought from using the experience of the 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, that even though impeachment happens on the Hill, the real energy for it and the real trajectory of that we're going to see is going to be out on the campaign trail," McCarthy, now a Fox News contributor, said on "America's Newsroom."
Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers are to question former Trump counsel Don McGahn next month, and McCarthy said that's because they are trying to build a case on obstruction and possibly on witness tampering, based on special counsel Robert Mueller's report.
"The thing to focus on here is the fact that [even though] no crime was committed and no crime was found by the report, it does not mean that Congress can't find that obstruction happened," said McCarthy. "In other words, the standard for high crimes and misdemeanors or impeachable offenses is basically abuse of power or dereliction of duty. It's very different from whether you can prove, or whether a prosecutor can provide proof beyond a reasonable doubt at trial."
He also commented about Tuesday's deadline to obtain Trump's tax records, saying it will likely be a long time before the Congress will be able to get them.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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