Scaramucci says Trump would survive impeachment regardless of Mueller findings
Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said that even if the special counsel investigation implicates President Trump in illegal activity, the Senate would likely act as a backstop against impeachment and prevent his removal from office.
"If it is illegal and it got up to the president, that's a very bad set of facts for the president, but I still don't think that removes him from office, because you're going to have to get 67 senators to vote for his removal from office," Scaramucci said in an interview on CBSN when asked about the indictment of Roger Stone, the former Trump adviser who was indicted last week on charges he lied to Congress about alleged communications with Wikileaks.
"Even if the House says, 'We're going to impeach him,' there has to be a trial in the Senate. So, what I'm hoping is that cooler heads prevail here and we start to decriminalize things that happened in our political conversations," Scaramucci said, noting he saw nothing related to Russia collusion when he served on the Trump campaign's finance committee and transition team.
"I'm just talking about the practical political reality of it," Scaramucci said. "Let's build the worst case scenario. Let's say that stuff's illegal, the president is totally tied to it. I still don't think he gets removed from office because, again, you have to get 67 senators, and at that point it becomes more of a political discussion than it does a court of law or criminal one."
In an interview Sunday with CBS News' Jeff Pegues, Stone said he wouldn't rule out cooperating with the special counsel. "I'm going to tell the truth no matter what," Stone said. "I have no intention of not telling truth. I have never not told the truth. Claims that I was less than truthful before the House Intelligence Committee will be disproven."
In response to Stone's arrest, Mr. Trump tweeted that the special counsel probe is the "Greatest Witch Hunt in the History of our Country!"
On Monday, Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said Mueller's investigation was "close to being completed."
The conclusions from the Mueller probe could have a significant impact on the president's re-election bid. Asked if he would vote for Mr. Trump again, Scaramucci, who appeared briefly on the current season of "Celebrity Big Brother" on CBS, said he probably would, but argued that events could change.
"The answer is yes, I'd probably vote for him. Two years is a very long period of time. Let's see what's in the Mueller report, let's see what happens with Roger Stone, let's see if he decides to run," Scaramucci said. " There's a lot of things that are swirling around right now and so we don't know the answer to that."