WASHINGTON ��It would be an impeachable offense if President Donald Trump were proven to have told his lawyer to pay hush money during the campaign to women who claimed to have affairs with him, but that doesn't mean he should necessarily be impeached, the Democrat set to lead the House Judiciary Committee said.
Those are "two different considerations," Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday. "You don't necessarily launch an impeachment against the president because he committed an impeachable offense."
Lawmakers should consider whether an action was important enough to warrant what's in effect an attempt to overturn the election, which should be done "only for very serious situations," Nadler said. Still, he said, "the new Congress will not try to shield the president" as he said Republicans have.
Manhattan prosecutors said in a court filing Friday that Trump directed his lawyer Michael Cohen to pay women to remain silent.
Nadler also said he wants to pass legislation to extend the deadline for prosecuting the president until after he leaves office, in case the Justice Department sticks to its legal opinion that a sitting president can't be indicted.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said on ABC's "This Week" that he'll continue to push for legislation to protect special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired. The planned departure of White House chief of staff at the end of the month year makes the matter more urgent, Murphy said.
"I imagine that he was one of the people that was attempting to convince the president not to fire Mueller," Murphy said. "With his departure, certainly the person who replaces him, are concerns that Mueller may be on the chopping block are, I think, more serious and this legislation becomes more important."
Separately, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said on CNN and ABC that Trump shouldn't pardon former campaign Chairman Paul Manafort, who faces prison after Mueller said he lied to prosecutors in violation of his plea agreement.
"It would be a terrible mistake," Rubio said on ABC. "Not only does it not pass the smell test, I think it undermines the reason why we have presidential pardons in the first place" and could lead to a debate about amending the president's authority to pardon.
