My ‘Lizard Brain’ Hopes ‘Bad Things Happen’ to Trump: Dem Lawmaker Jim Himes

My ‘Lizard Brain’ Hopes ‘Bad Things Happen’ to Trump: Dem Lawmaker Jim Himes
L: Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) in a news conference in Washington, on Nov. 15, 2012. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) R: President Donald Trump gives thumbs up before departing Shannon Airport, in Shannon, Ireland on June 7, 2019. Alex Brandon/AP Photo
Updated:

A Democratic lawmaker recently said that his “lizard brain” hopes that “bad things happen” to the president of the United States, Donald Trump.

Rep. Jim Himes, (D-Conn.) was asked on CNN by host Wolf Blitzer whether he wanted to see Trump “in prison”—a comment that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had reportedly recently made.
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“More than anything else,” Himes responded.

“This isn’t about my feelings or about retribution.

“Look, the lizard brain that I have says I hope bad things happen to this man because he has been so destructive to our republic, to the concept of democracy, to the concept that, internationally, we are a light unto the nations.”

Himes told Blitzer that despite his “emotional reaction,” he is aware that America is a “nation of laws” and that impeachment may not be an option as long as Republicans take the majority in the Senate.

“So what I really hope—and this is me personally speaking—what I really hope is that if impeachment is not a mechanism of accountability, and I will tell you flat-out that I can’t imagine anything happening, anything at all happening that would cause the Senate to convict and, therefore, remove this president—so impeachment stops in the House in my opinion,” he said.

Rep. Jim Himes(C), (D-Conn.), behind Rep. Nancy Pelosi, (D-Calif.), and then-Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) after speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Dec. 19, 2012. (Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images)
Rep. Jim Himes(C), (D-Conn.), behind Rep. Nancy Pelosi, (D-Calif.), and then-Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) after speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Dec. 19, 2012. Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images
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Pelosi had reportedly recently indicated that she wanted to see Trump in prison, according to reports by Washington Post and Politico, both of which had cited anonymous officials.

“I don’t want to see him impeached. I want to see him in prison,” Pelosi reportedly said during a meeting on June 4 in an evening meeting with House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler and other top Democrats, according to the two media outlets.

The anonymous sources said that Pelosi is hoping that, instead of being impeached, Trump is defeated in 2020 and then prosecuted for crimes that were not specified.

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Pelosi’s office has not confirmed or denied the comments. Instead, her office confirmed that a meeting did take place.

House Democrats have continuously been vocal about Trump’s alleged crimes, even though special counsel Robert Mueller had delivered a report on April 18 found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Mueller also decided not to file an obstruction of justice charge against Trump.

Since the release of the Mueller report, Democrats have launched hearings and investigations into the obstruction of justice claims that many of them have openly admitted they hoped would lead to the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

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Trump responded to Pelosi’s alleged comments, telling Fox News that Pelosi “is a disgrace.”

“I actually don’t think she’s a talented person,” he told the news outlet while in France for a D-Day commemoration.

“I’ve tried to be nice to her because I would have liked to have gotten some deals done.

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“She’s incapable of doing deals. She’s a nasty, vindictive, horrible person.”

U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) answers questions during her weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on June 5, 2019. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) answers questions during her weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on June 5, 2019. Win McNamee/Getty Images
“Nancy Pelosi’s a disaster, OK, she’s a disaster and let her do what she wants, you know what? I think they’re in big trouble because when you look at the kind of crimes that were committed, and I don’t need any more evidence, and I guess from what I’m hearing there’s a lot of evidence coming in,” Trump added.

The Mueller Probe

The FBI, under the Obama administration during the 2016 elections, had launched a counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign based on false information contained in the now-infamous Steele dossier.

The dossier had been paid for by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee and was produced by Fusion GPS and former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele.

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Mueller took over the FBI’s investigation in May 2017 and released the final report on April 18.

Trump said that following the conclusion of the Mueller probe, it is “now time to look at the other side.”

More than two years ago, Trump made the initial claim that his campaign was spied on by the Obama administration. Since then, investigations by Republicans in Congress have established that the FBI surveilled at least one Trump campaign associate. Further evidence suggests that Obama officials used at least four other methods to spy on the campaign.
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On May 23, Trump authorized Attorney General William Barr to declassify information related to surveillance activities surrounding the campaigns in the 2016 Presidential election.

Trump had earlier signaled on March 27 in an exclusive interview with Fox News that he would declassify all documents related to the surveillance of his presidential election campaign by the Obama administration.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
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