On Wednesday night, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) ratcheted up his attacks on President Trump for the firing of FBI Director James Comey, stating that Trump’s actions could lead to his impeachment.
Trump and Blumenthal were already at war, with Blumenthal stating on CNN’s New Day, “What we have now is really a looming constitutional crisis that is deadly serious because there is an investigation ongoing. Ultimately, there may be subpoenas to the President of the United States, just as occurred in 1973 precipitating United States versus Nixon and a similar firing of a special prosecutor. So what’s needed now is, in fact, an independent counsel and special prosecutor.”
Trump fired back on Twitter, “Watching Senator Richard Blumenthal speak of Comey is a joke. ‘Richie’ devised one of the greatest military frauds in U.S. history. For years, as a pol in Connecticut, Blumenthal would talk of his great bravery and conquests in Vietnam — except he was never there. When caught, he cried like a baby and begged for forgiveness, and now he is judge & jury. He should be the one who is investigated for his acts.”
On Wednesday night, Blumenthal appeared on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360. Cooper asked Blumenthal about Trump’s tweets, prompting Blumenthal to state, “This issue is not about me; it’s about the integrity of our justice system. And this kind of distraction and bullying certainly won’t silence me in my call for a special independent prosecutor.”
Cooper asked Blumenthal if he stood by his characterization of Comey’s firing as a “looming constitutional crisis.”
Blumenthal replied, “It is a looming constitutional crisis because it involves a potential confrontation, as did Watergate, between the president and the other branches of government. It may well produce another United States vs. Nixon on a subpoena that went to the United States Supreme Court. It may well produce impeachment proceedings, although we’re very far from that possibility, and right now, the president has not been charged, and there is an investigation underway which should be given the kind of integrity and independence that it deserves.”
“It may well produce impeachment proceedings, although we’re very far from that possibility.”
Richard Blumenthal
For a cogent and penetrating analysis of why appointing a special prosecutor would be wrong, see here.
Video below, starting at 4:10: