Donald Trump has done “far worse than anything Nixon did”, a leader of the impeachment process in the House said on Sunday, adding: “The question is why are Republicans placing this president above their oath of office.”
Nixon resigned in 1974, before he could be impeached over the Watergate break-in and his efforts to cover it up.
Trump faces two articles of impeachment related to pressure he applied on Ukraine to launch political investigations that would help his bid for re-election as well as obstruction of Congress by blocking the appearance of key witnesses before congressional hearings.
On ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Adam Schiff, chair of the House intelligence committee, said: “If anything this president’s conduct is far worse than anything Nixon did,
far more sweeping in its obstruction of accountability, far more damaging to our national security and the cover up that was Watergate.”
A full vote of the House of Representatives is expected on Wednesday. Should the articles pass by simple majority – as expected despite opposition from swing-seat Democrats including Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, expected to become a Republican over the issue – Trump
will become only the third president to be impeached. Andrew Johnson, in 1868, and Bill Clinton, in 1999, survived trials in the Senate.
