Dem: Impeachment is GOP’s ‘final goal’

Republican leaders preparing to sue President Obama ultimately have impeachment in mind, Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) charged Tuesday.

{mosads}Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday reiterated that he has no intention of heeding calls from some conservatives in his conference who want to impeach the president.

But Slaughter, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, said the GOP lawsuit against Obama is just the first step toward appeasing the Tea Party with an impeachment push.

“Republicans desperately want to do impeachment,” Slaughter said at a press briefing in the Capitol. “They’re going to take this step first [the lawsuit], but I’m not in any way assuaged from the notion that impeachment is not the final goal here.”

Although some rank-and-file Republicans have joined national conservative figures like Sarah Palin in calling for the impeachment of Obama, Boehner has been quick to reject those calls. 

Emerging from a closed-door GOP meeting Tuesday, the Speaker characterized the impeachment push as “a scam” concocted by Democrats to raise money ahead of November’s elections.

“We have no plan to impeach the president,” Boehner told reporters.

Told of Boehner’s comments, Slaughter remained unconvinced.

“You’ve heard all their base and everybody yelling about it,” she said. “For him to say that I think is disingenuous.” 

Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) piled on, characterizing the pushback from GOP leaders against Republicans calling for impeachment as too soft to convince anyone the leaders don’t share the same goals. 

“You have to look at their skittish nature to their response to this, as well — how nervous they get when that word comes up,” Crowley said.