Impeachment watch: Trump lashes out after Fox poll says majority supports impeachment

Donald Trump lashed out at a new poll from Fox News, which found that half of Americans support impeaching and removing Trump from office.

“The @foxnewPolls, always inaccurate, are heavily weighted toward Dems,” Trump tweeted. “So ridiculous — same thing happened in 2016. They got it all wrong. Get a new pollster!”

The poll found, by a margin of 52% to 32%, that Americans believe the Trump administration is not cooperating with the impeachment inquiry.

It also found that a majority of Americans — or 52% — think Republican lawmakers are against impeachment because they just want to protect Trump politically.

And, by 45% to 42%, Americans think Democrats are conducting the impeachment inquiry fairly — meaning the GOP’s attempts to attack the impeachment process are not working.

FiveThirtyEight gives the Fox News pollster’s an A- in their pollster rankings. Yet Trump — who has demanded that Fox News paint him in a positive light or cover the news from his conspiratorial worldview — frequently denounces any polls that show results unfavorable to him.

Here’s what else is happening in impeachment news:

• Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey left the Democratic Party and became a Republican over his opposition to Trump’s impeachment. Politico reported that after his party switch, five of Van Drew’s senior aides resigned from his office, saying they are “deeply saddened and disappointed by his decision” to change parties.

• The House Judiciary Committee released a report on impeachment that says Trump committed “multiple federal crimes.” The report concluded that Trump “has betrayed the national interest, the people of this Nation, and should not be permitted to be above the law. It is therefore all the more vital that he be removed from office.”

• Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer released a proposal over the weekend for how he wishes to see the Senate impeachment trial against Trump take place, writing in a letter to Mitch McConnell that he wants a process “in which all of the facts can be considered fully and fairly.” Schumer said acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, former national security adviser John Bolton, and a number of other officials Trump has blocked from testifying should be subpoenaed and forced to testify in the trial. “Conducting the trial according to this plan will also allow the public to confidence in the process and will demonstrate that the Senate can put aside partisan concerns and fulfill its constitutional duty,” Schumer (D-NY) wrote.

• Senate Republicans, however, are not even pretending that they will hold a fair and impartial impeachment trial against Trump, vowing to protect him at all costs. McConnell has said he is working directly with the White House to help defend Trump. “This thing will come to the Senate, and it will die quickly, and I will do everything I can to make it die quickly,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on CNN.

Come back tomorrow for more impeachment news.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.