On Tuesday's edition of CNN's "OutFront," Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-MI) walked through the implications of the new report that President Donald Trump knew about the whistleblower complaint at the time he told E.U. Ambassador Gordon Sondland there was "no quid pro quo" on the frozen military aid.
"What has been so magical, the proceedings for impeachment and the hearing, is that someone says it's like an onion, you keep peeling away layer after layer, and this is solidifying that the president of the United States is not a truthful person, that the president of the United States was manipulating his office and manipulating aid to another country, and it was only until he felt that he was being exposed that he actually stepped up and actually released the funds. This is very incriminating, and this is a time for us to understand that history must reflect that we held this president accountable."
"In terms of what this means for Congress ... the context in which the president found out was White House lawyers were trying to prevent this whistleblower report from ever getting in the hands of Congress," said anchor Erin Burnett. "That's what they were trying to do. Do you think that in and of itself is the possibility of obstruction?"
"Absolutely, it's obstruction and it's one of the articles of impeachment that will be on the table," said Lawrence. "The president has, you know, from denying his staff to speak — and thank goodness that we have judges who are true interpreters of the law. The president is not a king. The president cannot have subjects or loyal citizens who serve only him, and those employees serve the people, and so this is just — it just keeps piling on, and this is troubling because so often people will say that the president is not very smart. It shows that he was manipulating. He was strategic in his obstruction, and that he just blatantly lies and use that as a — as a base for his deflections of what he does."
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