‘Going to be difficult’: Lawmaker exposes seismic flaw in Trump impeachment push

A top House Democrat backed another push to impeach President Donald Trump but warned a major obstacle may come from his own party.

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, told CNN's Kasie Hunt on Tuesday that Democrats "should try" to impeach Trump if they win back the House and Senate. But he acknowledged that many of the new Democrats his party hopes to elect in red districts would likely see the effort as "partisan."

"I think that's a reasonable political argument," Smith said when Hunt pressed him on concerns from some Democrats that impeaching Trump again, with little chance of removing him, would look like overreach and hurt the party's chances of winning back the presidency in 2028.

"We're going to have a problem in that," he added. "We're going to elect a lot of Democrats from red areas, and they're going to view that as partisan. They want to focus on cost. They want to focus on other issues. And I get that."

Smith said he didn't know "what it's going to take to convince enough Republicans that Trump is an existential threat to this country," and said Trump has "helped drive the debt up higher than anyone could have possibly imagined."

Asked whether those amounted to high crimes and misdemeanors, Smith pointed to Trump's disregard for the law and court orders. He said Trump defied Congress early in his term by refusing to spend money lawmakers had already approved.

"And then over and over and over again, you know, he has gotten court orders and simply ignored them," Smith said.

The congressman argued that pattern is why passing new laws won't be enough to rein Trump in.

"Trump is just an unbelievable threat to the country," Smith said. "He pays no attention to the law. He's got ICE out terrorizing our communities. And how are we going to stop him? You know, what law are we going to pass when he chooses not to obey the law?"

Smith said Democrats should still focus on lowering costs but argued the party has "a broader case to make."

"I think we have to be blunt and honest about, you know, getting after some of the horrible policies of Trump is going to be difficult because he does not pay attention to the law, the courts," he said.