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New Congressional Black Caucus Chair: We May Have No Choice But to Impeach Trump

Beth Baumann
Beth Baumann  |  December 17, 2018 5:15 PM

Incoming Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Karen Bass (D-CA) sat down with The Hill on Monday for an interview. That's when she talked about the potential for impeachment proceedings.

"Whether or not articles of impeachment get introduced and followed up on, I think time will tell," Bass told Jamal Simmons. "We could very easily be in a place where we have no choice because if it keeps coming out of evidence of criminal behavior from this White House, it's going to be hard for us not to do that."

Bass, however, did remind Simmons of one thing: Republicans hold a majority in the Senate. Even if the House decided to impeach Trump and it passed, it wouldn't hold up in the Senate. 

"Realistically speaking, you know, you know we can impeach in this House, but it can't be followed through because there's not a supermajority over in the Senate," Bass explained. "So I think impeachment might come up, but I guarantee you it is not the first item on anybody's agenda that would be chairing these committees."

The Chairwoman also used the opportunity to blast Republicans for their "lack of oversight" so far during the Trump administration as well as their investigation into Hillary Clinton's email scandal. 

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"You're going to see, for the first time in his presidency, President Trump have oversight. There has been no oversight over the last two years with the Republicans in control," she said. "And so, I think that's what you'll see. I don't think you'll see us go crazy in terms of investigating everything in the way that they have gone after Hillary Clinton's emails. It's like an issue that never goes away. You're not gonna find the overreach."

Bass' comments comes after redacted documents from the Mueller investigation were released, revealing that Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort lied about his contact with the White House and someone connected to Russian intelligence. The lies allegedly occurred after Manafort signed a plea deal with Mueller's office.