Ex-CIA Chief Panetta: Dems Shouldn’t Push for Impeachment Right Away, Should Let Mueller ‘Complete His Work’
Former CIA Director Leon Panetta said on ABC’s This Week this morning Democrats shouldn’t immediately start pushing impeachment if they retake the House in the midterms.
Panetta first spoke with Martha Raddatz about John McCain‘s memorial service and the “celebration of country” it entailed, saying, “The message was not so much to the president, but the message was really to the American people about what love of country really has to be all about.”
Raddatz brought up the clear messages to Trump at the service, and Panetta did say there’s certainly been “a week of contrast with John McCain” and the President.
On the question of the midterms, Raddatz asked, “Do you think it’s wise for Democrats, if they retake the House, to start impeachment proceedings? Is it wise politically for them to do that?”
“No. Not at all,” Panetta responded. “I think the most important thing that the Democrats could do is to allow Bob Mueller to complete his work. I think Bob Mueller’s report will ultimately determine whether or not there are going to be additional steps taken against the president, and they ought not to get ahead of that report because that will be the key to determining what happens in the future.”
As for what Mueller eventually finds, Panetta observed it seems like “they are getting very close to making a case for obstruction of justice,” pointing to not just Trump’s actions, but “the fact that Rudy Giuliani himself has said that the whole purpose of their effort is to undermine the credibility of the special counsel.”
Watch above, via ABC.
[image via screengrab]
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