Corrupt Senate Republicans would make impeaching Barr 'a waste of time’: Nadler
US House Democrats will not impeach attorney general William Barr because “corrupt” Republicans in the Senate will prevent his removal from office, says leading Democratic lawmaker Jerry Nadler.
Nadler, House of Representatives Judiciary Committee chairman, who helped lead President Donald Trump’s impeachment hearings last year, said Sunday that Barr deserved impeachment but the Republicans “won't look at that."
Democrats have sounded alarms after Barr decided to fire a federal prosecutor in New York overseeing several investigative inquiries into Trump's associates, including his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.
The firing of Geoffrey Berman, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, marked the latest move by Barr that, according to critics, aims to benefit Trump politically and undercut the independence of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Speaking with CNN's Anderson Cooper on Sunday, Nadler said Democratic lawmakers would be justified in trying to impeach the attorney general, but that the fight is a waste of time.
“No, I don't think calls for his impeachment are premature any more than calls for the president's impeachment were premature,” Nadler said.
“But they are a waste of time at this point, because we know that we have a corrupt Republican majority in the Senate which will not consider an impeachment no matter what the evidence and no matter what the facts,” he added. “We’re instead going to do what we have to do without that.”
Nadler launched an all-out offensive against Barr this summer. The chairman, whose committee oversees the Justice Department, has called a hearing for next week where two DOJ whistleblowers are set to testify about “unprecedented politicization” and corruption at the department.
He has also put forward legislation that would cut the budget of Barr’s personal office at the DOJ by $50mn.
Meanwhile, US Representative Adam Schiff, the lead prosecutor in Trump's impeachment, told NBC's "Meet the Press" that the motivation for sacking Berman was suspect, "given the pattern and practice of both the president in seeking to use the justice system to reward friends, punish enemies, protect people he likes, and Bill Barr's willingness to carry that water for the president."
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