Gohmert: 'The Abuses, the Obstruction of Congress, Have Come from Congress'

Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX) turned the Democrats’ articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump on their heads Wednesday evening, declaring: “The abuses, the obstruction of Congress, have come from Congress.”

Democrats unveiled two articles of impeachment on Tuesday morning. They did not, as they had suggested they would, offer articles alleging bribery and obstruction of justice. Rather, they accused the president of “abuse of power” and “obstruction of Congress.”

Gohmert turned those accusations around, arguing that it was Congress — through the Democratic majority running the House of Representatives — that had abused its power, and that was obstructing investigation into the facts.

He noted:

They talk about abuse of power, but they were willing to obscure evidence in a basement hearing, over and over. They are willing to block witnesses from coming in here and testifying before Congress. They are willing to obtain and publish phone records of people — there is no probable cause. There are no crimes by any of these people.

He said, concluding his remarks, his voice shaking:

Let me just say, I came in here. I did not want to get emotional, and I have sat through trials that are hard to sit through, but nothing like sitting this week in this committee hearing. Indeed, like Jefferson I tremble that God is just and His justice won’t sleep forever. But the abuses, the obstruction of Congress have come from Congress.

Gohmert later raised a point of order, asking for a copy of the amendment to the articles of impeachment so that Republicans could see all the crimes that Democrats were alleging Trump had committed.

There were no crimes, and no amendment.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.