Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), who served as lead counsel in President Trump’s first impeachment, mentioned on Wednesday he thinks the president has dedicated “dozens of impeachable offenses” since taking workplace one month in the past.
“Donald Trump has, in his first month, probably committed dozens of impeachable offenses,” Goldman mentioned in an interview with Scripps Information, when requested whether or not he thinks any of Trump’s actions have risen to the extent of an impeachable offense.
“He’s violating the Constitution right, left, and center,” Goldman added.
Goldman mentioned, nonetheless, {that a} third impeachment trial for Trump might by no means occur in a GOP-controlled Congress and urged Democrats to seek out different methods to carry Trump accountable.
“The reality is the Republicans control the House, and they control the Senate. And not only are they in control in the majority — and therefore they would have to lead any kind of impeachment investigation — but they have demonstrated such a lack of spine and will and determination to even just uphold their own power,” Goldman mentioned. “They’re giving freely their very own authority in Congress and simply turning it over to Donald Trump.”
“So regardless of whether or not there are impeachable offenses, it’s not happening. And we need to focus on other ways of providing accountability on Donald Trump,” he continued.
Goldman attacked quite a few strikes Trump has taken in current weeks, from sweeping cuts to the federal workforce to efforts to broaden the White Home’s authority over varied unbiased regulatory companies.
He additionally referred to as a few of the Trump administration’s strikes “reckless,” noting that opening up servers for his Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) fee to realize entry to People’ private knowledge not solely raises privateness issues however creates entry factors for overseas actors to entry the information too.
“Donald Trump wants to put every single thing in the executive branch under his thumb, so that he can use all of the executive branch agencies for his own personal interests and for his own political retribution,” Goldman said. “It is absolutely lawless in many different ways, including the fact that it has to come back to Congress in order for it not to be independent.”
Goldman has beforehand criticized DOGE-architect Elon Musk’s position within the Trump administration, stating that the tech billionaire is “calling the shots.”
The Hill reached out to the White Home for remark.
