Sen. Chris Murphy: Mueller probe now 'beyond the stage' of Clinton impeachment
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, said the publicly available facts from special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe indicate President Donald Trump’s actions are “beyond the stage” of what led to the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton.
On “This Week” Sunday, Murphy left the question of whether or not to move to impeach the president to the House and cautioned against drawing too many conclusions without all the facts of the investigation, but told "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz that Mueller’s investigation has reached a “new level.”
“I think you are beyond the stage that led to the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton, whether or not you think that that was worthy of impeachment,” Murphy said.
Murphy compared Trump’s status in the investigation, with the special counsel linking the president to illegal activity, to that of former President Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974.
“The president has now stepped into the same territory that ultimately led to President Nixon resigning the office. President Nixon was an unindicted co-conspirator. Was certainly a different set of facts, but this investigation is now starting to put the president in serious legal crosshairs and he should be worried and the whole country should be worried,” Murphy said.
Murphy was responding to the most recent revelations from the special counsel’s investigation, including multiple filings documenting criminal activity committed by the president’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen and former campaign chair Paul Manafort.
Cohen’s filing from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York indicated Trump, named in the filing as “Individual-1,” directed Cohen to make hush money payments before the 2016 election to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal to silence them and keep their allegations of extramarital affairs with Trump private.
The special counsel alleges that Manafort, meanwhile, lied on multiple occasions to prosecutors about the extent of his contact with a Russian national during the 2016 campaign and with Trump administration officials in 2018.
While sources tell ABC News that Mueller is in the process of writing his final report, there are questions about when the final report will be made public.
“I would also counsel the special investigator to show his cards soon," Murphy said. "I mean I think it's important for the special investigator to give Congress what he has sometime early in 2019 so that Congress can make a determination. If the president did, in fact, collude with the Russians to try to manipulate the election, or engage in multiple felonies with Michael Cohen, it doesn't really make sense for congress to get that report from the special investigator in 2020, we need that next year. We need that as soon as possible."
