Despite acknowledging impeachment would never pass the Senate, former Obama administration Attorney General Eric Holder rejected the notion failing to impeach the president would be politically damaging for Democrats.
"They should proceed with an impeachment inquiry, impeachment investigation," Holder, who was once held to criminal contempt of Congress in a bipartisan vote, told CNN's "The Axe Files." "That doesn't necessarily commit you to actually impeaching the president."
Holder told David Axelrod, the chief strategist for former President Barack Obama's political campaigns, he wants to see witnesses testify before the American people in the House and then just not send impeachment to the Senate, "where Republicans are likely to acquit him."
A frequent critic of President Donald Trump, Holder suggested the House Democrats "censure" the president in lieu of sending impeachment to fail in the Senate. Censure in Congress is a public reprimand that carries no legal consequences.
President Trump has long rebuked the investigation of his political campaign as a "witch hunt" designed to damage him politically, and Holder supports the process in the Democratic-controlled House, including having his former White House legal counsel Don McGahn to testify.
Holder's contempt of Congress stemmed from his withholding of documents on Fast and Furious – a gun-running scandal where the Obama administration permitted illegal sale of guns to track them into the hands of drug cartels. The program was exposed after one of the weapons was used to murder a U.S. border patrol agent.
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