Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., said Tuesday that if President Trump refuses to send the documents and witnesses that House Democrats requested in the impeachment inquiry, “We can only conclude that you’re guilty,” sparking critics on Twitter to accuse him of suggesting the president is guilty until proven innocent.
“In America, innocent men do not hide and conceal evidence,” Swalwell added, in his conversation with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “They are forthcoming and they want to cooperate and the president is acting like a very guilty person right now.”
Among those objecting to Swalwell’s remarks was Ben Williamson, communications director for Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C.
“I believe the Fifth Amendment was just repealed on live television,” Williamson wrote.
In a Twitter message earlier Tuesday, Swalwell had compared what he described as Trump’s stonewalling by using a sports metaphor of drug testing in Major League Baseball.
“[I]f a baseball player refuses to take a drug test, MLB treats it as a positive result. Why? Only a player who’d test dirty would refuse a test,” he wrote. “Why won’t @realDonaldTrump send witnesses or documents to Congress? Because he’d test dirty.”
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