During an appearance that aired Friday on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal” on Friday, Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL) criticized “obsessed” nature of his House Democrat colleagues’ pursuit of President Donald Trump.
Palmer scoffed at the notion that the Mueller report suggested prosecutable obstruction of justice was committed by Trump, adding that he thought special counsel Robert Mueller would have pursued it if it had occurred.
“[I] don’t think the Mueller report left the question open to if obstruction occurred,” Palmer said. “If obstruction had occurred, I think Mueller would have brought it forward and there very likely would have been an indictment. When you have obstruction, it’s not just one individual. The president, by himself – if he were attempting to obstruct, there would have been other people involved. But I don’t think there was a criminal charge there. Had there been one, I think Mueller would have brought it forward. His reputation as an investigator and prosecutor was on the line with this, and a lot of people have not taken that into account.”
The Alabama Republican congressman laid out how he saw divisions within the House Democratic caucus and describe one of those elements as having an obsession akin to something “out of a Herman Melville novel.”
“I think what’s going on in the House is indicative of the turmoil that exists within the Democrat majority right now,” he continued. “I really think they’re split three ways. You’ve got Speaker Pelosi and the old guard leadership trying to keep their pack together. You’ve got Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her group, her little caucus really driving the agenda in some respects. Then you’ve folks like Rep. Maxine Waters from California and Adam Schiff and some of these, who – it’s almost right out of a Herman Melville novel. They are obsessed to the point of being destructive to their own caucus in this pursuit of President Trump.”
“And maybe there’s even a fourth group of people that I know that I consider friends and that I can work within the Democrat caucus that I think want to move on to the more serious issues that are confronting the country,” he added.
Host Don Dailey asked Palmer about Democrats’ pursuit of Trump’s financial documents, to which he also likened to an obsession.
“I think it’s still right out of a Herman Melville novel,” Palmer replied. “This is not about what’s best for the country. I mean, President Trump has been in office now almost two-and-a-half years. He is facing reelection in 2020. This is all about politics. It’s not about policy. It’s not about what’s best for the country. It’s rank hypocrisy compared to what’s happened in some other administrations – the misdeeds that occurred during the Obama administration with Lois Lerner at the IRS that clearly violated individual civil rights, constitutional rights. During the Clinton administration, when there was another independent counsel investigation, and you’ve got Jerrold Nadler, who chairs the House Committee on the Judiciary, who at the time of the Starr Report did not want the report released. This is not about us working on the issues that are confronting the country.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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