A top Democrat who helped lead one of the impeachment trials against then-President Donald Trump appeared to nervously discuss what could come next for the former president.
In an appearance CBS’ Face The Nation with host Margaret Brennan, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said he is hearing talk among some Republicans for choosing Trump as Speaker of the House should the GOP go on to win a majority, as projected.
“One potential candidate whose name has been floated is Donald Trump himself, because the Speaker of the House does not have to be a member of the House. And they are talking about putting Trump right there,” he said.
“That’s not a real option, though,” Brennan said before Raskin interjected.
“They talk about it repeatedly,” Raskin said. “And if Trump decided he wanted to do it, it would pose a profound problem for their party because they refuse to do the right thing.”
Here’s more of the exchange:
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes, it’s going to be hard to legislate though, any way we look at it.
I want to ask you about what you’re working on with the January 6 Committee. Former President Trump’s basically going to defy the subpoena you issued. He’s planning to announce he’s running for the presidency on Tuesday.
Is the prime achievement of the January 6 Committee simply going to be this written report? You’re not appearing to stop him from running.
REPRESENTATIVE JAMIE RASKIN: Well, in a democracy, the people have the right to the truth.
And what we withstood was a systematic assault on democratic institutions and an attempt to overthrow a presidential election. So we have set forth the truth in a series of hearings. And we’re going to set forth the truth in our final report, along with a set of legislative recommendations about what we need to do to fortify American democracy against coups, insurrections, electoral sabotage, and political violence, with domestic violent extremist groups involved.
So, we’re going to put all of that out there. Look, when — when I was over in the Senate with the impeachment team, I told the Republicans there that this was our opportunity to deal with the problem of Donald Trump, who had committed high crimes and misdemeanors against the people of the United States. And they needed to act on behalf of the country and the Constitution, but, if they didn’t, he would become their problem.
And, at this point, Donald Trump is the problem of the Republican Party, and he may destroy their party.
At least 155 GOP "election deniers" will serve in the new House, @CBSNews projects.
Rep. Jamie Raskin: "That's a statement about the political contamination of the GOP by Donald Trump." pic.twitter.com/HkxkAlGP1a
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) November 13, 2022