The New York Times reports that Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, testified before the House Judiciary Committee, led by New York Democrat Jerry Nadler, as they began conducting an impeachment inquiry on Tuesday.
According to the report, Lewandowski confirmed that Trump asked him to pressure Attorney General Jeff Sessions to restrict the scope of Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election — although he claims Trump never asked him to do anything illegal.
Independent Justin Amash, who was the first Republican to call for Trump’s impeachment after reading the Mueller report, took to Twitter to suggest that Lewandowski confirmed the “impeachable conduct” outlined in the document.
“At today’s Judiciary hearing, Corey Lewandowski confirmed this impeachable conduct from Mueller’s report. Thank you, Corey.”
Amash linked to his previous Twitter thread in which he addressed the various portion’s of the Mueller report that showed evidence of Trump “obstructing and impeding” the investigation.
“Trump asked Corey Lewandowski, his former campaign manager, to tell AG Sessions to limit the special counsel’s investigation only to future election interference,” he tweeted. “Trump said Lewandowski should tell Sessions he was fired if he would not meet with him.”
During Lewandowski’s testimony, Representative Steve Cohen, a Democrat of Tennessee, pressed him on Trump’s request.
“Didn’t you think it was a little strange the president would sit down with you one-on-one and ask you to do something that you knew was against the law?” he asked.
According to Lewandowski, he “didn’t think” Trump was asking him to “do anything illegal.”
WH says Corey Lewandowski can’t talk about conversations with the president not contained in Mueller report. Lewandowski was never a WH employee. pic.twitter.com/mBC4xEc5th
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) September 17, 2019
Amash has been vocal about his support of Trump’s impeachment and the necessity of carrying out the proceedings regardless of the chances of it succeeding. Per The Inquisitr , Amash has also urged conservatives to leave the Republican Party, suggesting that the current party is in active opposition to the traditional conservative principles of limited government and free markets.
Per The Inquisitr , the impeachment inquiry has already drawn controversy. Two former aides to Trump, Rick Dearborn and Rob Porter, were asked by the White House to defy congressional subpoenas and refuse to testify before the House Judiciary Committee hearing. Both of them did not appear for their scheduled testimony — only Lewandowski, who did not work in Trump’s White House upon the President’s inauguration, appeared.
According to White House counsel Pat Cipollone, the Justice Department has given Dearborn and Porter “constitutional immunity”
Regardless, the House Judiciary Committee plans “aggressive” hearings to determine if the Trump administration committed impeachable offenses during Mueller’s Russia investigation.