Former Trump homeland security adviser Tom Bossert provided three ways “to impeach oneself,” and hiring President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani is one of them.
Appearing on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Bossert discussed House Democrats’ recently launched impeachment inquiry and slammed Giuliani for continuing to peddle the “debunked” conspiracy theory that Ukraine hacked the Democratic National Committee in 2016.
“It’s not only a conspiracy theory, it is completely debunked,” he said. “I don’t want to be glib about this matter, but last year, retired former Sen. Judd Gregg wrote a piece in the Hill magazine saying the three ways or the five ways to impeach oneself. And the third way was to hire Rudy Giuliani.”
He continued, “And at this point, I am deeply frustrated with what he and the legal team is doing in repeating that debunked theory to the president. It sticks in his mind when he hears it over and over again. And for clarity here, George, let me just again repeat that it has no validity.”
In the president’s controversial July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump claimed that the hacked DNC server is in Ukraine and asked the foreign leader to to work with Attorney General William Barr to “get to the bottom of it.”
The debunked theory he was referring to alleges that Crowdstrike, which first publicly released evidence that Russia was behind the attack, made up information to fuel former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.
Bossert added that he doesn’t believe Trump was “pressuring” the Ukrainian president on the call, during which he also asked the leader to look into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son’s ties to an energy company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch, but said he was “deeply disturbed” by the conversation. The former official recommended that Trump “move forward” from collusion allegations, warning that Giuliani’s interest in the conspiracy could have negative ramifications for him.
Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry into the president in the wake of the call, which was the subject of an intelligence community whistleblower complaint. Trump has maintained no wrongdoing on his part, but the American public appears to back Pelosi’s move.
