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Impeachment against Donald Trump unlikely, Russian expert says

In case the impeachment fails, the Congress won't be able to play "the Russian card," Pavel Sharikov said

© AP Photo/Evan Vucci

MOSCOW, August 14. /TASS/. The impeachment process against US President Donald Trump will hardly be launched as in case it fails, the Congress will be deprived of a possibility to play "the Russian card," a senior official from the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for the USA and Canadian Studies told an expert discussion on Monday.

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"If the impeachment process is launched, the issue of Russian hackers will be off the table," Pavel Sharikov, the head of the Institute’s Center for Research and Development, told the discussion at the Valdai Discussion Club focusing on accusations against Russia over its alleged interference in the US presidential elections.

"If the impeachment does take place, (US Vice President) Mike Pence will come to power. Nobody has accused him of ties to Russia, and he will continue the policy started by Trump, however without accusations of ties to Russians," the expert said.

He said that if the impeachment fails, Trump will stay but already freed from accusations of ties to Russia. "In this case it is much more advantageous for the congressmen to have the president with leverage over him instead of the president free from such serious accusations. That is why, in my opinion the impeachment issue will have no continuation," Sharikov summed up.

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