President Donald Trump on Thursday called impeachment a “dirty, filthy, disgusting word” — which surprised many, who pointed out that it’s in the U.S. Constitution.
The comment raised the possibility that Trump isn’t aware that the Constitution employs the word to address Congress’ authority to deal with misconduct by a president. He told reporters they should read a “thing called Article II” of the Constitution (which addresses impeachment). But Trump insisted it “gives the president powers that you wouldn’t believe.”
Trump also said he couldn’t “imagine the courts allowing” impeachment. But Article II of the Constitution states that the House — not courts — “shall have the sole Power of Impeachment,” and the Senate “sole Power to try all Impeachments.”
Former special counsel Robert Mueller, in his first public remarks on his report Wednesday, clearly did not exonerate Trump of wrongdoing. Instead, he emphasized that if his investigative team “had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said that.”
Mueller also strongly hinted at an open door for impeachment proceedings, noting that a president “cannot be charged with a federal crime” while in office. The Constitution “requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing,” he pointed out.
Asked if he thought in the wake of Mueller’s comments that he might now be impeached, Trump told reporters: “I don’t see how.” He added: “To me, it’s a dirty word, the word ‘impeach.’ It’s a dirty, filthy, disgusting word, and it had nothing to do with me.”
The remark drew both hoots and serious criticism on Twitter. One wag quipped he wants Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calf.) to “talk dirty.” Others complained that Trump sees the entire Constitution as a “dirty word.”
