Rep. Ted Lieu: ‘The administration is just making stuff up’ with ‘absolute immunity’ claim

Donald Trump recently called “impeachment” a “dirty, filthy, disgusting word,” but his continued stonewalling of legitimate congressional oversight requests are moving more and more House Democrats to embrace that “filthy” concept. That was the very point made by Rep. Ted Lieu of California, a progressive Democrat who sits on the House Judiciary Committee during our recent conversation on “Salon Talks.” That committee would be the starting point for an actual impeachment inquiry of the president.

Lieu was one of the early voices in Congress calling for impeachment. As a recent example of Trump’s obstruction, he highlighted the sham process that unfolded before the Judiciary Committee on Thursday. Former White House communications director Hope Hicks appeared under subpoena, but refused to answer any and all questions about her time in the White House, under the Trump administration’s highly dubious claims of “absolute immunity.” White House lawyers objected to 155 questions asked of Hicks by House Democrats, including one posed by Lieu: “Where was your office located?”

The third-term congressman representing the west side of Los Angeles has more than a million Twitter followers, thanks largely to his no-holds-barred criticism of Republicans and the Trump administration. In our conversation, he also discussed Trump’s plans for dealing with Iran — or his lack of plans, as Lieu sees it. Neither Lieu nor most foreign policy experts have any idea what Trump’s goals are with Iran, given his constant flip-flops and mixed messages.

View the complete June 25 article from Salon on the AlterNet website here.