From the NewsMax.com Staff

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Ed Koch Predicts Push to Impeach Bush

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Some congressional leaders will push for President Bush's impeachment now that the Democrats have taken control of the House and possibly the Senate, former New York Mayor Ed Koch predicts.

"I expect that [Rep. John] Conyers as chairman [of the House Judiciary Committee], now with great freedom, will do anything he can to commence such impeachment or investigatory activity, and we'll see whether Pelosi will prevent it," Koch says.

Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in line to become the first female speaker of the House of Representatives in U.S. history, has said that impeachment proceedings against Bush are "off the table," according to a report in The Washington Post.

With the resounding Democratic victory on Tuesday, however, Conyers, D-Mich., is set to take over the chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee.

Earlier this summer, Conyers issued a 350-page "investigative report" on the Bush administration that was widely viewed as a road map for Bush's impeachment if the Democrats took control of the House. Conyers charged that the Bush administration had violated "approximately 26 laws and regulations."

The Judiciary Committee would initiate any impeachment proceeding.

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If Conyers were able to use his chairmanship to launch an impeachment investigation of Bush, Koch warns, the effect would be "devastating."

"The reason I supported, and still support, President Bush with respect to foreign policy on the issue of international terrorism is that I believe that it is an extraordinary threat to the U.S.," Koch tells NewsMax. "And I regret that too many in the Democratic Party don't appreciate the danger."

Beyond impeachment, Koch sees another worrisome outcome following on the heels of the midterm election results: gridlock. "Gridlock is not good for nations," he says.

"I hope the two parties and their leadership sit down and work on compromises on their philosophy. I happen to be very supportive of the domestic agenda of the Democratic Party, and supportive of the foreign affairs agenda of President Bush. I don't agree with the president on a single domestic issue," Koch says.

Koch adds that he looks "for changes that are dramatic in the domestic area."

"I hope they're able to work out some reasonable approach to Iraq, obviously different from what we have currently," he says. "The nation is for a change in direction."

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