Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) said in a recent radio interview that the House could soon be discussing the impeachment of President Barack Obama “very seriously.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution pointed out Wednesday that Kingston, who is running for the GOP nomination in the race for U.S. Senate in Georgia, suggested impeachment was possible two weeks ago on “The Aaron McCready Show” even though the congressman declined to comment on the efforts this week for a story published in the Washington Post.
Here’s the exchange between Kingston and McCready, as quoted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Kingston: Not a day goes by when people don’t talk to us about impeachment. I don’t know what rises to that level yet, but I know that there’s a mounting frustration that a lot of people are getting to and I think Congress is going to start looking at it very seriously.
McCready: Well, if this lawsuit, and I said this in the first half of the show. I’m concerned about this lawsuit because, and first of all, I agree that the president needs to be held accountable. But with this lawsuit, by the time there’s any resolution in it, he’ll be out of office, so is this maybe the first step to issue articles of impeachment?
Kingston: You know, it could go in that direction if there was a big discussion. I mean, I think it’s possible, it keeps getting worse and worse. It could go in that direction.
Since Sarah Palin called on lawmakers to impeach the President earlier this month, politicians from House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to former Vice President Dick Cheney have dismissed the idea. Iowa GOP Senate candidate Joni Ernst, who first embraced the idea, later said she saw no evidence Obama should be impeached.
A spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said Kingston’s comments in the radio interview showed he was open to impeachment.
“Kingston joins Joni Ernst and a number of other Republican Senate candidates who are open to impeaching President Obama,” DSCC spokesman Justin Barasky told TPM.
Kingston faces businessman David Perdue in the GOP runoff primary election on Tuesday.
Sahil Kapur contributed reporting.
