Newt Gingrich knows a thing or two about presidential impeachments. And after the Obama’s administration’s decision on the Defense of Marriage Act, Gingrich says the smell impeachment is in the air once again.
Speaking with Newsmax, the former House Speaker and oft-rumored 2012 presidential contender said that the Obama administration’s decision to no longer defend DOMA in federal court is a “a violation” of President Obama’s “Constitutional oath and clearly it is something which cannot be allowed to stand.”
The host asked Gingrich “is what Obama’s doing impeachable in your view?”
Gingrich: “I think that’s something you get to much later.”
More:
“I think first you ought to communicate — I mean, look, I don’t think these guys set out to start a Constitutional crisis. I think they set out do do something for their allies in the gay community and they thought was clever. I think they didn’t understand the implication of having a president personally suspend a law is clearly unconstitutional.”
Gingrich said “the first remedy” for Obama’s unconstitutional move “is for the Congress to confront him.” The first round of confrontation, Gingrich said, should include the Congress “threatening to zero out” the budget at the Attorney General’s office until Obama agrees to drop his DOMA decision.
Just a few hours after the interview went up, Team Gingrich sent this statement to reporters:
Congress has every responsibility to demand President Obama live up to his constitutional obligations, but impeachment is clearly not an appropriate action.
Watch the Newsmax interview:
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
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