Politics

Formerly Impeached Democrat Under Ethics Investigation Calls Trump ‘A Corrupt President’

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Democratic Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings, formerly impeached himself, bashed Republicans and President Donald Trump over impeachment Tuesday.

Hastings spoke Tuesday at a House Rules Committee hearing where he condemned Republicans and Trump for their attitudes toward Trump’s potential impeachment. Hastings is currently under an ethics investigation for an alleged improper relationship with one of his congressional staffers.

“What we have here is a corrupt president that wanted to do something to advance his political circumstances,” Hastings said.

The Florida Democrat said it is regrettable that Republicans are not addressing Trump’s actions and said Trump has “disregard and disrespect for the United States Constitution.”

“We are stewards of the House of Representatives and to not have all members of this body object in the most strenuous terms to the administration’s complete objection of our clear, constitutional prerogative, to conduct an impeachment inquiry, is to me truly disappointing,” Hastings said. “To not object, to not draw the line here is to do a great disservice not only to those who came before us but those who will come after us.”

The Senate voted to impeach Hastings in 1989 after Hastings faced an onslaught of corruption charges.

A federal grand jury indicted Hastings, who was a judge in a federal district court at the time, on conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges in 1981 for soliciting a bribe worth $150,000 in exchange for reducing the sentences of two felons who were convicted in his court. A jury acquitted Hastings in 1983 and he returned to his duties as a judge.

But an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Committee started a new probe into Hastings corruption charges after reports that Hastings had both lied and falsified evidence in order to be acquitted. The court concluded three years later that Hastings committed perjury, tampered with evidence and conspired to make financial gains through bribes. Lawmakers did not disqualify him from holding office in the future.

Voters elected Hastings to the House of Representatives in 1993 and he voted against former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998.

“I was impeached and removed from office as a United States district court judge and while that’s nothing to crow about it’s also nothing to cry about and I’ve gotten beyond that stage of my life but I’ve not gotten beyond the stage of my experiences,” Hastings said in 1998.

“I have a wealth of experiences from ten years of working in that process,” he added.