GOP Rep.: Impeaching Obama Would ‘Risk Tremendous Public Backlash’

US Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., , gestures as he speaks during a gala prior start of the Virginia GOP Convention   in Roanoke, Va., Friday, June 6, 2014.    (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
US Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., , gestures as he speaks during a gala prior start of the Virginia GOP Convention in Roanoke, Va., Friday, June 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
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Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, warned on Tuesday that an attempt to impeach President Obama isn’t the best idea for the Republican party.

The congressman said that while he supports the lawsuit against Obama over his use of executive authority, the House should approach impeachment with “great caution and great discretion.”

He told Amherst County, Va., civic leaders at a luncheon that the public may see impeachment as a political attempt to attack an opposition president, according to the Lynchburg, Va. News & Advance.

“So just doing it for the point of doing it and then losing — because you would lose in the United States Senate where you have to have a two-thirds majority to [remove a president] — would weaken rather than strengthen the cause,” Goodlatte said.

“You risk tremendous public backlash to the system unless the public strongly supports what you want to do,” he continued. “And it still wouldn’t resolve the underlying issues we’re talking about.”

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