Former chief of staff for President Bush supports impeachment inquiry

Alexis Christoforous
·Anchor

Andrew Card, long-time White House Chief of Staff for President George W. Bush, said he supports the impeachment inquiry, but thinks the Democrats have done a poor job of handling it.

“I think they should have just said, this is a very serious, sober experience for the country to go through, we’re not going to talk about it until we have the facts,” Card said.

His comments come the same day the House Judiciary Committee held its first hearing of the impeachment inquiry to begin the process of drafting articles of impeachment. Lawmakers will hear from three legal scholars to determine if allegations that President Trump abused his power constitute “high crimes” under the Constitution.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., center, with members of the committee, speaking during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on the constitutional grounds for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Drew Angerer/Pool photo via AP)
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., center, with members of the committee, speaking during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on the constitutional grounds for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Drew Angerer/Pool photo via AP)

A House Intelligence Committee report accuses the president of pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rivals, including former Vice President Joe Biden.

“I think changes in democracy should come at the ballot box,” Card said, “but I also think some of the questions warrant an investigation, and so the inquiry was appropriate.”

Card, who is chairman of the think tank National Endowment for Democracy, accuses Democrats of playing partisan politics in the inquiry. “I wish that they had kept their mouths shut and allow for an investigation and let the truth come out rather than try to spin it everyday,” he said.

He is also critical of the way U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff has run the inquiry and how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “permitted that to happen.”

“I don’t think the trial in the Senate is likely to be anything but a circus and a partisan experience,” said Card, “and I doubt that President Trump would be removed from office.”

Alexis Christoforous is co-anchor of Yahoo Finance’s “The First Trade.” Follow her on Twitter @AlexisTVNews.

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