On second thought, Andrew Napolitano doesn’t think Trump will be forced from office.
The former Trump friend caused a stir this week when he claimed that Trump broke the law by asking the president of Ukraine to investigate the Bidens. But Napolitano clarified Wednesday that he doesn’t think Trump will be removed from office, even if he has committed a crime.
“I can’t see the president being removed from office by this Senate, or any Senate,” Napolitano said.
Napolitano’s take
To be removed from office, Trump would need to be voted out by two-thirds of the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans. So far, Republicans have held firm against allegations from Democrats that Trump committed treason when he asked Ukraine’s president to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Echoing Democrats, Napolitano dramatically speculated Tuesday that Trump had indeed committed a crime, regardless of whether an explicit quid pro quo was discussed. A phone transcript released by President Trump Wednesday showed that the he made no such arrangement.
Neither Trump did mention military aid that Democrats claimed the president dangled to put pressure on Ukraine. In an appearance on Fox Business with Charles Payne, Napolitano discussed the transcript and whether the it revealed Trump exerting undue or improper influence against Ukraine’s president, explicitly or — as Democrats have claimed — implicitly.
“I don’t think this particular transcript helps the president,” Napolitano said.
Napolitano said that Pelosi must sense some political advantage in impeaching Trump, but he cast doubt on whether Democrats will succeed in removing the president from office. Republicans have roundly rejected the whistleblower’s allegations, which Trump and his allies have said merely represent the latest stage of a “witch hunt” to destroy his presidency.
The senior Fox News judicial analyst has claimed all week that Trump committed a crime by soliciting foreign election help. The judge penned an op-ed Wednesday claiming that Trump “personally and directly committed a crime.” Napolitano asserted that there is “circumstantial” evidence that Trump bribed Ukraine’s president and that the Ukraine scandal “is far worse than anything alleged or uncovered by Mueller.” He described impeachment as a “remedy” and blasted Republicans for ignoring Trump’s wrongdoing.
Judge’s claims roil Fox personalities
The former Trump ally has fallen out of favor with Trump and many of the president’s supporters over his handling of Russiagate and now the Ukraine scandal. Throughout the collusion hoax, Napolitano made numerous predictions that the president would be charged with crimes — prognostications that never came true.
But this time, Napolitano says, it’s a little different. The judge has claimed that the evidence of wrongdoing in the Ukraine scandal is more clear-cut and that the Ukraine scandal is the biggest of Trump’s presidency. Then again, that’s what he said last time.
As Democrats accuse the GOP of doing Trump’s bidding, Republicans have fired back by claiming that Democrats are protecting the Bidens. Joe Biden allegedly pressured Ukraine to fire a prosecutor who had investigated a nuclear energy company in which his son, Hunter, had a significant financial stake. On the phone call that has formed the basis of the latest controversy, Trump asked Ukraine’s president for the “favor” of investigating alleged 2016 election meddling originating from Ukraine — and then went on to ask that he investigate the Bidens.
The whistleblower drama has driven a wedge at Fox between those who support the president and the network’s anti-Trump pundits. Napolitano became the center of an intra-network feud when former prosecutor Joe diGenova, in an appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight, called Napolitano a fool for accusing Trump of breaking the law. Anti-Trump anchor Shepard Smith defended Napolitano against diGenova’s “repugnant” attack.
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