Impeaching President Donald Trump would be a "bad idea," former National Security Agency Director Michael Hayden said in an interview airing Friday.
"If President Trump is somehow forced to leave office before the end of his first term, one-third of America will believe it was a soft coup conducted by people, well frankly like everybody here at the table without be their view," Hayden told Hill.TV.
Instead, the only way to move on in a way that's healthy for the democracy is to vote, Hayden, a frequent critic of the president's, added.
The talk of impeachment is growing after the president's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty in a federal court to charges of campaign finance violations, telling the court he did so under the direction of a "candidate for federal office," reportedly meaning Trump.
Hayden is not the only one of Trump's adversaries who has said impeachment would not be a good idea, as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also said the matter would not be a priority for Democrats.
"Impeachment has to spring from something else," Pelosi said. "If and when the information emerges about that, we'll see. It's not a priority on the agenda going forward unless something else comes forward."
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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