Franken: Impeaching Trump Could Lead to 'Zealot' Pence

By Olivia Beavers, The Hill

20 June 17

en. Al Franken (D-Minn.) is cautioning his Democratic colleagues that if President Trump is impeached, Vice President Pence would become president and he “would be worse” on domestic issues.

“He’s ideological, I consider him a zealot,” Franken told International Business Times in an interview published Monday. “And I think that in terms of a lot of domestic policy, [Pence] certainly would be worse than Trump.”

Franken said Pence, who ran Trump's transition team, was behind some of the “very worst” White House Cabinet nominees, including Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney.

Franken did say he'd feel better about having Pence as commander in chief rather than Trump.

“If you’re talking about how we handle North Korea or something like that, I’d probably be more comfortable with Pence ultimately making those decisions than Trump, because of Trump’s personality and character,” Franken said.

Franken said Trump’s behavior concerns him because it’s “so outside the norm,” adding that he is worried what Trump would do in the event that he was impeached.

“I don’t know what he will do if he looks like he’s going to be impeached and he wants to deflect,” Franken continued. “I don’t know what he’s capable of, and that really does concern me.”

Franken, a former writer for "Saturday Night Live," has largely been critical of the Trump administration. The Minnesota lawmaker is making the interview rounds as he promotes his new book, “Al Franken, Giant of the Senate.”