U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks at the New Hampshire Republican State Committee Liberty Dinner in Concord, N.H., in this file photo.CONCORD, N.H. – The Republican National Committee chairman and a leading conservative, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, urged caution Monday for Republican critics calling for President Barack Obama’s impeachment, but would not rule out impeachment altogether as new details emerged about the White House’s role in the developing scandal at the Internal Revenue Service.
“There’s a few chapters before we get to the last one. So it’s up to us to connect the dots first,” RNC chairman Reince Priebus told reporters when asked about impeachment ahead of a New Hampshire GOP fundraiser.
Some conservatives have compared recent IRS wrongdoing to the Watergate scandal, and Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., last week raised the prospect of impeachment.
“There isn’t a weekend that hasn’t gone by that someone says to me, ‘Michele, what in the world are you all waiting for in Congress? Why aren’t you impeaching the president? He’s been making unconstitutional actions since he came into office,”‘ Bachmann said during a Washington news conference with tea party leaders.
Paul, a tea party favorite who is considering a 2016 presidential bid, said such rhetoric is premature.