After President Donald Trump’s impeachment acquittal in the U.S. Senate, the months-long chaos on Capitol Hill came to a close and D.C. returned to business as usual.
That may not last.
Liberal leaders, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., are already whispering about a second impeachment trial.
Democrats have accused Trump of interfering in the criminal case of his former associate Roger Stone, who had been facing a sentence of anywhere between “87 and 108” months on charges of obstruction, witness tampering, and making false statements to Congress. The trial originated from Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Trump spoke out against the sentencing guidelines on Twitter, where he defended Stone:
This is a horrible and very unfair situation. The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them. Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice! https://t.co/rHPfYX6Vbv
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 11, 2020
Just hours beforehand, the Department of Justice, led by Attorney General Bill Barr, had agreed with Trump and asked prosecutors to lighten Stone’s sentence recommendation.
Democrats are accusing Trump of interfering with the case,. They claim, without evidence, that he ordered the change in Stone’s sentence recommendation.
Failed 2020 candidate and California Rep. Eric Swalwell told CNN, “We’re not going to take our options off the table” when it comes to another impeachment trial.
“We want to work with him on prescription drugs, background checks, and infrastructure, but we’re not going to let him just torch this democracy because he thinks that he’s been let off once and we’re not going to do something about it,” Swalwell said.
You can view of clip of this statement below:
Jake Tapper asks Rep. Swalwell if the House will push impeaching @realDonaldTrump over the Roger Stone situation: We're not going to take our options off the table. We don’t wake up in the morning wanting to impeach him…but we're not going to let him torch this democracy… pic.twitter.com/HqTANTdVLw
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) February 12, 2020
Swalwell was just one of many Democrats who have suggested another round of investigations and a possible second impeachment.
Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., have all called for an investigation into Trump for what they see as political intervention into a court case.
“It turned out that the lesson he learned was not that he went too far,” Schumer said, “not that he needed to rein it in. The lesson the president learned was that the Republican Party will not hold him accountable no matter how egregious his behavior. Not now, not ever.”
Trump, however, has denied influencing the case.
“The fact is that Roger Stone was treated horribly and so were many other people,” Trump said. “Their lives were destroyed.”