Fox News legal analyst: Trump committed 'criminal and impeachable' acts

Trump’s solicitation of political assistance from Ukraine is so egregious that Fox News’ senior judicial analyst is describing it as “criminal.”

In a syndicated opinion column published on FoxNews.com, Andrew Napolitano sharply criticized Trump for the actions relayed from his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“The criminal behavior to which Trump has admitted is much more grave than anything alleged or unearthed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and much of what Mueller revealed was impeachable,” Napolitano wrote.

Napolitano noted that despite Trump and others on the right who are attacking the whistleblower who brought forward concerns about Trump’s call with Ukraine, “Trump has admitted to its accuracy” by releasing the summary of the call.

“In it, Trump asked Zelensky for dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden,” Napolitano notes.

Napolitano concedes that Trump admitted in the call to holding up aid to Ukraine, despite Congress and his own administration pushing for the money to be distributed.

The Fox News analyst even expresses alarm at Trump’s attack on the whistleblower as a “spy” and his allusions to “treason.”

“The president’s allusions to violence are palpably dangerous. They will give cover to crazies who crave violence, as other intemperate words of his have done,” writes Napolitano. “Trump also suggested that his impeachment would produce a second American Civil War. This language is a dog whistle to the deranged.”

In his column, Napolitano goes on to unequivocally state that Trump’s violation of federal campaign finance law through the solicitation to interfere in the election is “an impeachable offense.”

Napolitano’s analysis is an outlier at Fox, where anchors and pundits — as they always have — continue to make excuses and defenses of Trump’s actions. In fact, much of his most incendiary attacks, like calling the impeachment inquiry a “coup,” come from the network.

Napolitano is a conservative who has frequently parroted the party line at Fox, attacking Democrats and progressives on extremely tenuous ground. But Trump’s recent actions have been out in the open and easy to understand for millions of Americans.

Polling has shown a rapid and decisive shift in favor of impeachment as Americans become aware of Trump’s actions.

As one of the network’s most visible voices on legal matters, Napolitano’s column shows that he had to bow to facts and concede that the network’s favored politician has done what he is accused of.

It is not the dominant view at Fox, but at least one prominent voice at Fox News has to reflect the objective evidence about Trump’s culpability.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.