In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler defended his own hypocrisy on the issue of impeachment Sunday by saying that it was all Trump’s fault.
Of course.
Back in 1998, during the impeachment proceedings against Democratic President Bill Clinton, Nadler pushed against impeachment by a slim vote along party lines, saying, “There must never be a narrowly voted impeachment or an impeachment substantially supported by one of our major political parties, and largely opposed by the other. Such an impeachment would lack legitimacy, would produce divisiveness and bitterness in our politics for years to come.”
Bash pressed Nadler on his decades-old comments, questioning whether he still holds the same stance now that his party is moving forward with impeachment against President Donald Trump, a Republican.
“Right now, you are moving forward with impeachment proceedings against a Republican president without support from even one congressional Republican,” she said. “Is it fair to say that this impeachment, in your words from back then, will produce divisiveness and bitterness in our politics for years to come?”
Nadler denied the suggestion, instead blaming Trump for the “bitterness and divisiveness” in American politics.
“No, I think that what puts bitterness and divisiveness into our politics is the conduct of the president who questions the patriotism of people who don’t agree with him, who calls political opponents human scum, who talks about the fake press, who derides the judiciary, who attacks all of our Democratic institutions,” Nadler responded.
“So, you are willing to impeach the president with no Republican votes, correct?” Bash pressed.
“We’re going to impeach the president. If we’re going to impeach the president, we will impeach him on adequate and urgent grounds to defend our democratic republic,” Nadler responded.
“And if there’s no Republican votes, so be it?” Bash asked.
“It’s up to them to decide whether they want to be patriots or partisans,” Nadler answered.
Nadler's not the only Democrat to have defended Clinton against an alleged partisan impeachment, then change his tune when it comes to Trump. At least five Democrats compared Clinton's impeachment to a public "lynching" -- including former Vice President Joe Biden -- before slamming Trump for calling the current impeachment effort by the same, now supposedly racist, term.