toobin, former federal prosecutor and chief cnn analyst. margaret thalev, cnn political analyst and michael smerconish. you look refreshed. i feel refreshed. moving on. justin amash, it is hard, jeffrey, to see a tipping point in real time. only sometimes after the fact do you look back at watergate and say that was the watershed moment. it s hard to know what it means that this republican has publicly said that, quote, president trump engaged in impeachable conduct. it s striking given the republican unanimity behind donald trump. however, i would very much doubt this is the beginning of a flood. the republican party is so
would be significant. they are treating it like something significant. here s the closest to what a republican senator has said. this is senator mitt romney yesterday on state of the union. listen to this. my own view is that justin amash reached a different conclusion than i have. i respect him. i think it is a courageous statement. but i believe to make a case for obstruction of justice, you just don t have the elements that are evidenced in this document. i also believe that an impeachment call is not only something that relates to the law, but considers practicality and politics. the american people just aren t there. what are your thoughts on that, margaret? sort of by taking a big step forward which amash has done he ll make himself a target. you are seeing the likelihood now of a primary challenge, maybe faster and more ferociously than before.
jerk reaction that when a tweet comes out we read it. only if it s relevant. he tried to start a war with iran by tweet. that s of great significance. we are in this environment where everybody is trying to figure out how to deal culturally, journalistically with how he expresses himself. calling pete buttigieg alfred e. newman is news. i didn t read that. i m trying to avo voivoid ad ho insults. we are trying not to telegraph that. it s news when the president says it. how can we ignore it? i don t have an answer here. i think pete buttigieg is speaking to what a lot of people believe. jeffrey, thank you. margaret, michael, thank you very much. be sure to watch smerconish on cnn. a republican in congress says president trump engaged in