Judge Napolitano says he ‘certainly would’ vote to impeach Trump

Regular viewers of Fox News have no doubt noticed a substantial shift in the viewpoint of the network’s senior judicial analyst, Judge Andrew Napolitano. The judge was once an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, but shortly after the 2016 election, he flipped his script — and now, Judge Nap has been forced to admit that he’s all-in with the Dems on impeachment.

Napolitano told America’s Newsroom host Bill Hemmer on Wednesday that if he were in the House, he “certainly would” vote in favor of removing President Trump from office, the Daily Wire reports.

The case for impeachment

Napolitano’s comments came during Fox’s coverage of the House Judiciary Committee’s public impeachment hearing on Wednesday. The judge was asked if he believes Trump committed impeachable offenses — and he didn’t hold back.

“I believe that the Democrats have credibly argued that he committed impeachable offenses,” Napolitano said. “The easiest one — because this existed in Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton — is obstruction of Congress.”

The judge continued: “So by directing his subordinates to refuse to comply with lawfully issued subpoenas, whether it’s for testimony or for documents — that’s an impeachable offense. We know that from history, every time the House of Representatives has looked at that with respect to a president, they found it to be impeachable.”

Not wanting the judge to beat around the bush, Hemmer came right out and asked Napolitano: “If you were in the House, would you vote for impeachment, sir?”

“I certainly would,” Judge Nap said. “Well, I’m never going to be in the House — [but] I would on that count.”

Hopping on the Trump Train

The judge quickly added, however, that “reasonable minds can disagree” on the question of the president’s “intent” behind allegedly withholding military aid to Ukraine.

“Was it truly to eradicate corruption in Ukraine? Was he truly concerned that American taxpayer dollars would go into the hand of crooks? Or was he looking to use the instruments of a foreign government to help his political campaign? Reasonable minds can disagree on that,” Napolitano said of Trump. Take a look at his full interview:

According to the Daily Wire, Napolitano later added that he didn’t think the Wednesday Judiciary hearing would do much to sway public opinion on Trump — and he’s not wrong. Trump himself reported on Thursday that his approval rating among Republicans is still sitting at a healthy 95%.

Indeed, while Napolitano may not be on the Trump Train any longer, there are still plenty of conservatives out there defending their president — and that will only become more apparent as November 2020 draws closer.