Rep. Eric Swalwell, a 2020 presidential candidate, on Thursday said Congress should first impeach Attorney General William P. Barr and Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin before potentially moving on to tackle President Trump.
“I’m for bringing [Robert] Mueller in, getting the full Mueller report, impeaching Barr and Mnuchin to get the documents, being prepared for impeachment,” the California Democrat said on MSNBC’s “Hardball.”
“But I recognize that the rule of law here is the most important thing we can protect. It’s very fragile. This is the most extreme remedy,” he said. “So, first thing’s first: Let’s get rid of the first two obstructors in Barr and Mnuchin and then get the information [for] the president.”
Mr. Swalwell said Mr. Barr sounds like he’s being paid by Mr. Trump to be his own personal lawyer.
Before the Justice Department released of a version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s full report last month, the attorney general had said in a summary letter that there was not enough evidence to establish that the president obstructed justice.
Mr. Mueller said this week that he didn’t come to a conclusion on charging Mr. Trump because Justice Department policy prohibits indicting a sitting president, but that based on what he found in his investigation he couldn’t exonerate the president, either.
Mr. Barr told CBS this week that his department disagrees with a lot of the legal analysis in Mr. Mueller’s report.
Meanwhile, Mr. Mnuchin has resisted complying with a congressional subpoena for six years’ worth of tax returns for the president and some of his associated entities, saying he’s been advised he would be breaking the law if he did so.
Congressional Democrats say Mr. Mnuchin needs to comply with a law that says the department “shall” turn over taxpayer information if it’s requested by either of the chairmen of Congress’ tax-writing committees.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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