SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the oft-speculated possibility of President Donald Trump pardoning his former attorney, Michael Cohen, would amount to grounds for impeachment.
“It would not be a pardon of extenuating circumstances. It’s a pardon to stop a person from testifying against you," said Cuomo, D-New York, at the opening of the State Fair in Syracuse. "To me, that is tantamount of obstruction of justice.”
Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations related to instances in which he sought to arrange payments for two women in order to block them from speaking publicly about affairs they had with the then-president candidate.
Cuomo and Trump have been locked in an escalating public feud, with the president hammering Cuomo over his comments that "We're not going to make America great again. It was never that great. We have not reached greatness;" comments Cuomo himself described as "inartful."
Cuomo has previously stopped short of calling for Trump to be impeached, but did suggest earlier this summer that Trump’s remarks at a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin raised treason questions for Congress to consider.
