A top Harvard Law professor said Tuesday that Democrat lawmakers risk being "the boy who cried wolf" with their cries for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, adding they must "shoot to kill" to be effective.
Laurence Tribe, author of the new book, "To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment," later apologized for the explosive remark made during an interview on CNN's "New Day."
"Democrats shouldn't be rushing down the road of impeachment … It will be available only if we don't use it loosely, and ring the bell every time something looks amiss," Tribe said.
"You can't be the boy who cried wolf and have a viable impeachment power. You can't use it over and over again against the same president.
"If you're going to shoot him, you have to shoot to kill. And that requires an overwhelming majority of a bipartisan kind. Otherwise you're just going to nick the guy, and make him feel empowered and vindicated."
Later Tuesday morning, Tribe took to Twitter to issue an apology for the "terrible" turn of phrase.
"In an otherwise good interview I made a terrible word choice, saying an impeachment 'bullet' can only be 'shot once' so one must 'shoot to kill.' I wasn't speaking literally, but as one who works hard to reduce gun violence this was just inexcusable. I'm very sorry," Tribe wrote.
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