President Donald Trump offered an unusually direct explanation Wednesday of how his two impeachments changed his thinking about political restraint and dealing with opponents.
Speaking during an Oval Office event, Trump was asked about the possibility that Democrats could again pursue impeachment if they gain control of the House after the November midterm elections.
Trump responded by pointing to Hillary Clinton and former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
“I could’ve done very bad things to Hillary Clinton,” Trump said, adding that he could also have taken similar actions against Biden and Obama. He said he had previously chosen not to do so because he believed the presidency required a certain level of restraint and respect.
But Trump then connected that restraint to his own experience.
“Then I found out that they impeached me twice,” he said, before adding that he still has the ability to act if he chooses. Trump did not explain specifically what he meant by “very bad things,” making it important not to interpret the statement as a direct threat of arrest or prosecution.
Impeachment Is Already Back in the Political Conversation
The remarks come as Washington is again debating what Democrats might do if they win control of the House in the November midterms.
Some prominent Democrats and Democratic strategists are already arguing against another impeachment effort. Veteran strategist James Carville said this week that a third impeachment would be unlikely to succeed because conviction requires a two-thirds vote in the Senate, while former Obama White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has also argued that Democrats should focus elsewhere rather than begin another impeachment fight.
Trump remains the only U.S. president to have been impeached twice.
His first impeachment came in December 2019, and his second in January 2021. He was acquitted by the Senate in both cases.
Restraint or Political Retaliation?
Trump’s latest comments illustrate a larger question hanging over his second presidency: whether the political battles of recent years have permanently changed the traditional limits presidents place on themselves when dealing with former presidents and political rivals.
Trump presented his own position as one that changed after his impeachments. In his telling, he once believed the presidency required him to avoid using his power against political opponents, but now views his own treatment as evidence that those conventions have already been broken.
Whether his remarks lead to any specific action remains unclear.
For now, however, the statement provides one of Trump’s clearest descriptions of how he sees the relationship between presidential restraint, impeachment and political retaliation.
Sources: Fox News; The Independent
By NJ RADAR Team