GOP Rep. Thinks ‘Members Will Act’ To Oust Trump If Shown ‘Impeachable’ Evidence

UNITED STATES - SEPTEMBER 12: Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., stops to speak with reporters as he walks through the Senate subway in the Capitol on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

A Republican congressman said Wednesday that he believed “members [of Congress] will act” if there is “clear and convincing and impeachable” evidence against President Donald Trump.

It was a bold statement from Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), though he hedged to CNBC that it was “too soon” for an impeachment inquiry.

“I’ll leave that to the Judiciary Committee,” Cole said, warning that Republicans shouldn’t occupy a “fantasy world” with regard to the Trump, despite the tendency to “give the President of your own party the benefit of the doubt.”

The allegation that Trump told his former fixer Michael Cohen to commit crimes, Cole said, was “potentially very dangerous.”

“You can’t dismiss it as a witch hunt,” Cole told CNBC, referring to special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, and to the eight counts on which former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was found guilty on Tuesday.

“Yesterday was a pretty sobering day,” Cole said. “The Mueller probe needs to be allowed to proceed.”

Separately, Cole told the New York Times that it had been “a really bad August.”

“Where there’s smoke, and there’s a lot of smoke, there may well be fire,” he said, referring to the President and leader of his own party.

“Anybody who says this is not disturbing is not being honest,” Cole added. “So my advice to any candidate would be: Keep your powder dry and don’t rush to attack or defend anybody because you just don’t know enough to have a reaction that you can still defend three months from now.”

“Every now and then,” Cole concluded to CNBC, “you have a legacy moment.”

Latest News
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: