Updated….WASHINGTON—White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said Friday the lawsuit House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is planning against President Barack Obama “has opened the door” for some Republicans to consider “impeachment at some point in the future.”
“You have Sarah Palin out there talking about impeachment….I think a lot of people in town laughed that off. I would not discount that possibility that Speaker Boehner, by going down the path of that lawsuit, has opened the door to Republicans possibly considering impeachment at some point in the future,” Pfeiffer said.
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Pfeiffer made the remark about the former Alaska governor and impeachment at a reporters breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. He was discussing Obama’s use of executive actions in the wake of gridlock in Congress, the product of sustained clashes with House Republicans.
Boehner spokesman Michael Steel noted that Boehner already ruled out impeachment and dismissed Pfeiffer’s remarks as a “fundraising exercise for Democrats.”
“We have a humanitarian crisis at our border, and the White House is making matters worse with inattention and mixed signals. It is telling, and sad, that a senior White House official is focused on political games, rather than helping these kids and securing the border,” Steel said.
On Thursday, the House Rules Committee, controlled by Republicans, authorized Boehner to file a lawsuit challenging Obama’s order to waive the employer mandate that is part of the Affordable Care Act.
Obama is currently weighing executive orders on immigration, which Pfeiffer said could trigger angry reactions from Republicans.
Commenting further, Pfeiffer said of an impeachment threat, “we take it very seriously and I don’t think it would be a good thing…. But I think it would be foolish to discount the possibility Republicans would at least consider going down that path.”
A new CNN/ORC poll found only 35 percent of respondents want to see Obama impeached. The question was phrased this way: “Based on what you have read or heard, do you believe that President Obama should be impeached and removed from office, or don’t you feel that way?”
While the White House may take Palin’s comments on impeachment seriously, not all Republicans do.
I recently asked Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., about Palin urging lawmakers to impeach Obama.
Said Roskam, “spare me.”
