Former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman Would Impeach Any President Who Misbehaves, Including Trump
*By Christian Smith*
The clamor to impeach President Trump has increased in volume since Democrats won back the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this month ー and one member of the chorus is former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, who said the president's term recalls another dark period in American political history.
"There are very serious issues with regard to President Trump's conduct," Holtzman told Cheddar Monday.
"Some of this resonates with and echoes what happened during the Nixon administration."
Holtzman makes her full case for President Trump's impeachment in her new book, "The Case For Impeaching Trump."
Holtzman served in Congress from 1973 until 1981, representing parts of Westchester and the Bronx in New York as a Democrat.
In the book, she argues that Trump has committed impeachable offenses that resemble Nixon's crimes during the Watergate era ー specifically, she said, firing DOJ officials involved in his investigation and offering pardons to keep his allies quiet.
Nixon eventually resigned before Congress was able to vote on his impeachment. Holtzman served on the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate probe and voted in committee to impeach Nixon.
Critics have said that Holtzman, a Democrat who also called for the [impeachment of President George W. Bush](https://www.thenation.com/article/impeachment-george-w-bush/) in 2006, simply wants to impeach Republican presidents. But she dismissed that argument ー largely because her impulse to impeach isn't governed by political party.
"If I had been in Congress when Lyndon Johnson was there I might have said something very different about him," Holtzman said.
"He was a Democrat and he lied about getting us into the war ー escalating the war in Vietnam. I think that was a real danger to this democracy."
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