Democratic lawmakers are rewriting a law to ensure President Donald Trump won't escape "criminal liability" if he is re-elected and time runs out to indict him, Rep. Eric Swalwell said Tuesday.
"I don't think any person should be above the law," the California Democrat, who is mulling a run at the presidency, told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "What concerns me right now is the president may escape criminal liability because he could win reelection and the statute of limitations could run out."
The current policy rules out indicting a sitting president, Swalwell added, so "we should rewrite the law. The statute of limitations can continue to run, so once you're out of office, you can be indicted."
And the law, he added is "in the works because there are "indictments waiting for this president."
Swalwell said he also has every confidence lawmakers will see special counsel Robert Mueller's report, as Congress just voted unanimously to see it and Trump is "outnumbered."
The lawmaker also said Tuesday he believes Trump colluded with Russia, and he thinks there is circumstantial evidence.
"The president knew the Russians were seeking to help him," said Swalwell. "So he went out as a candidate, invited them to hack more, did not tell his family not to take any of these meetings. He was told by Roger Stone that Wikileaks was also going to be putting out materials damaging to his opponent and he went on the stage and said I love Wikileaks. This is circumstantial evidence which in a court of law can be treated as the same as direct evidence. Yes, he's colluded."
Michael Cohen testified before Congress that he overheard a phone conversation between Trump and Stone in which Stone purportedly said that WikiLeaks had hacked emails and was planning on releasing them. Stone, in a statement to Newsmax, has categorically denied Cohen’s and Swalwell’s claims as false.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.