Eric Swalwell Asks Newt Gingrich Straight-Up: Would A Third Trump Term Be Constitutional?

2 days ago

At today's House Judiciary Committee hearing, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) grilled former Speaker Newt Gingrich about nationwide injunctions.

Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:

https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript

Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00member yields time for that purpose. And without objection so ordered, I now

00:07recognize the gentleman from California, Mr. Swalwell. We're about two plus hours

00:13into this hearing, maybe three, and as I'm taking stock, we're here because some guy

00:20I've never heard of, he might be in Congress, introduced an impeachment

00:25resolution. He's not here. He hasn't been here for at least the last hour, and

00:30every witness here is in agreement that we really shouldn't be impeaching judges.

00:35I haven't heard a single colleague on the other side say we should be impeached.

00:38Would the gentleman yield? Not yet. And this guy's just raising bucks on this

00:44issue. This is like a fundraising ploy, but we all are here, like we're in our

00:49suits, we're wasting, or we're not dedicating ourselves to other matters

00:54because this guy wrote some article. It just seems kind of absurd to me because

01:00no one even thinks that's the remedy, and I dare whoever this person is, I hope he

01:05would come, I dare him to bring a privilege resolution because we could

01:10actually debate this, but it's just a stunt. I promise you it's a stunt. I will

01:15contribute to his campaign if he brings before this committee an impeachment

01:21resolution. Now, Speaker, you said some of these judges are pretend presidents.

01:26How much would the gentleman give to his campaign? 700 district judges that are

01:31pretending that they're president. There's a judge, a single judge in a

01:35federal courthouse in Amarillo, Texas, where conservatives are form-shopping

01:39and having cases sent to him, Judge Kaczmarek. In 2023, he suspended

01:46Mifepristone approval. That's a medical abortion pill. Can you direct me, Speaker,

01:51to the statement you gave objecting to him doing that? I couldn't find it. No, I

01:58haven't spoken out on this issue until I was invited to come here. Okay. I wrote

02:03about it in 2011, and I submitted that for the record. How about when Judge

02:08Kaczmarek ruled against ACA protections for LGBTQ individuals in November 2022?

02:15Did you speak out against that rogue judge? I think the term, I have not

02:18spoken on this issue until I was invited here, was generic and included every

02:23single one of the cases you want to ask about, so I will stipulate in advance. I

02:27did not comment because I did not comment, and I'm not here to comment on a

02:33single case. I'm here to say that the system is out of whack, which, by

02:38the way, I wrote about in 2011. An elected Trump third term, is that

02:42constitutional? I think it's funny, too. If the if the Congress wishes to pass a

02:48constitutional amendment and the requisite number of states decide to

02:52endorse that amendment, of course he would have the option to run for

02:55re-election. In the absence of that kind of constitutional change, I think that

03:00it's impossible. Thank you, and with that I'll yield to the gentlelady from Texas,

03:05Ms. Crockett. Thank you so much, and I appreciate the

Eric Swalwell Asks Newt Gingrich Straight-Up: Would A Third Trump Term Be Constitutional?

Category

Transcript

Recommended