Story highlights
Santorum says Republicans would currently oppose impeachment
But that could change amid more damaging revelations, he cautions
As White House lawyers begin researching impeachment procedures, former senator and Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Friday night the GOP is nowhere near supporting such a move, but warned President Donald Trump that “this can’t continue for a whole lot longer.”
A person briefed on the matter told CNN that lawyers in the White House counsel’s office have consulted experts in impeachment during the past week and have begun collecting information on how such proceedings would work.
People briefed on the legal discussions also revealed that White House officials believe the President has the backing of Republican allies in Congress and that impeachment is not in the cards.
Santorum, who voted to convict former President Bill Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice during his impeachment trial in 1999, agreed that Republicans would currently oppose impeachment. But he cautioned that things could change dramatically if damaging revelations continue to plague the Trump administration.
“Unlike Democrats, who will never break with a president, no matter what they do – I mean I don’t care, they can find him with a smoking gun and a picture, they wouldn’t break with him – Republicans will,” he warned. “So I would say this to President Trump: This can’t continue for a whole lot longer.”
Santorum added that the White House is trying to “change the narrative” by focusing on Trump’s first foreign trip as President to the Middle East, and “hopefully that will begin to give some comfort to Republicans that he’s actually interested in being president and doing something positive for the country.”
In a statement explaining his vote in 1999, Santorum said he believed prosecutors proved that Clinton was “guilty as charged” and that “the purpose of this ordeal was never to punish the President, but to protect the republic.”