New York Democrat busts Trump's two favorite defenses against impeachment

Rep. Max Rose (D-NY) broke down President Donald Trump's two essential defenses of his wrongdoing at the heart of the impeachment inquiry.

The New York Democrat won election last year in a district that overwhelmingly backed Trump, but he said his constituents understand the seriousness of the allegations under investigation by lawmakers.

"People truly do, I believe, understand that these allegations are serious," Rose said. "But what I hear often is two things. First thing I hear is well, 'Look, Max, I get it, the president might have done something wrong, but everybody does it. Why are you singling this guy out for something when everybody does this? You know, presidents used to do this in the past, senators are doing this all the time.'"

Rose said that even if that was the case, new laws should prohibit that activity.

"It's for that reason that we should be coupling this with the most expansive anticorruption effort in the history of the United States," he said.

"The second thing we hear, though, is, 'Oh, look, Max, this is a witch hunt, you guys were trying to get him from Day 1,'" Rose continued. "Well, there are members of my -- some of my colleagues in the Democratic Party who certainly wanted to impeach this guy before they were sworn in. They are totally wrong. There are also members of the Republican Party, far too many, who wouldn't even consider initiating an inquiry of this president no matter what he did because there's an 'R' next to his name. That is even worse."

"So my belief is, that's why I talk so much about earning trust here," Rose added. "We have got to look at this as a larger anticorruption issue as well as constantly, constantly show the American people that we are rising above the fray and not concerned about our own politics."