(The Hill) — Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), who served as lead counsel in President Trump’s first impeachment, said on Wednesday he thinks the president has committed “dozens of impeachable offenses” since taking office one month ago.
“Donald Trump has, in his first month, probably committed dozens of impeachable offenses,” Goldman said in an interview with Scripps News, when asked whether he thinks any of Trump’s actions have risen to the level of an impeachable offense.
“He's violating the Constitution right, left, and center,” Goldman added.
Goldman said, however, that a third impeachment trial for Trump could never happen in a GOP-controlled Congress and urged Democrats to find other ways to hold Trump accountable.
“The reality is the Republicans control the House, and they control the Senate. And not only are they in control in the majority — and therefore they would have to lead any kind of impeachment investigation — but they have demonstrated such a lack of spine and will and determination to even just uphold their own power,” Goldman said. “They're giving away their own authority in Congress and just turning it over to Donald Trump."
“So regardless of whether or not there are impeachable offenses, it's not happening. And we need to focus on other ways of providing accountability on Donald Trump,” he continued.
Goldman attacked numerous moves Trump has taken in recent weeks, from sweeping cuts to the federal workforce to efforts to expand the White House’s authority over various independent regulatory agencies.
He also called some of the Trump administration’s moves “reckless,” noting that opening up servers for his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) commission to gain access to Americans’ personal data not only raises privacy concerns but creates access points for foreign actors to access the data too.
"Donald Trump wants to put every single thing in the executive branch under his thumb so that he can use all of the executive branch agencies for his own personal interests and for his own political retribution,” Goldman said. “It is absolutely lawless in many different ways, including the fact that it has to come back to Congress in order for it not to be independent."
Goldman has previously criticized DOGE architect Elon Musk's role in the Trump administration, stating that the tech billionaire is "calling the shots."
The Hill reached out to the White House for comment.