OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is being accused of misrepresenting the President and his defense in her posts on social media this week.
Pelosi claimed that the President’s lawyers used the defense that the president has the ability to abuse his power without consequence. Pelosi also used an old misquote that President Trump previously stated that Article II gives him the ability to act without any restraints from any branch of government.
The misrepresented defense strategy seems to be connected to Alan Dershowitz’s, who stated that in order for the president to be removed from office, he must exhibit “criminal-like conduct” in addition to “abuse of power”.
Pelosi chose Twitter as the platform to spread the fake news.
Trump’s lawyers argued he has a right to abuse his power as much as he wants, and Congress can do nothing about it.
Sounds familiar:
Trump: “I have an Article 2, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.”
Congress can do something: hold a fair trial.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 28, 2020
Breitbart fact checked Pelosi in a report this week.
As numerous fact checks have claimed, Trump never said that Article II of the Constitution — which describes the powers of the president — gave him the power to do whatever he wanted. Pelosi has used this misquote before, and it was shamelessly recycled by House impeachment managers in the Senate last week.
The president was specifically talking about his power to hire and fire executive officials. The context was Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of “Russia collusion.” Trump’s point was that he had allowed Mueller, with a team of anti-Trump Democrats, to investigate him, even though he could have fired Mueller.
Pelosi is one of several Democrats that continue to muddy the waters by distributing false information in an effort to spin the narrative in their favor.
