Matt Gaetz Suggested Impeaching Obama During Yesterday's Impeachment Hearing
JakeThomas
Rep. Matt Gaetz took an interesting approach to defending President Donald Trump during the House Judiciary Committee’s impeachment inquiry hearing on Wednesday: Instead of impeaching Trump, the Florida Republican suggested, perhaps Congress should impeach former President Barack Obama.
Gaetz’s remark came during his questioning of Stanford Law Professor Pamela Karlan regarding her donations to Democrats, Business Insider reported.
In what appeared to be a reference to reports that the National Security Agency was monitoring the phone calls of 35 world leaders in 2013, Gaetz said: "If wiretapping political opponents is a political offense, I look forward to reading that inspector general's report because maybe it's a different president we should be impeaching.”
At the time of the reports, the White House said Obama was unaware of the wire-tapping.
The remark could also have been referencing Trump's unfounded claims that Obama wire-tapped his phones during the 2016 election.
Gaetz took plenty of heat on social media after making the comment, with numerous Twitter users blasting the lawmaker for suggesting a president could be removed from office after having already left his post.
But Business Insider noted that former presidents actually can be impeached, not for removal from office but in order to prevent them from holding elective or appointive offices in the future.
Watch Gaetz deliver his remarks:
