Here are the Republican Lawmakers who Believe in Impeachment for Obstruction of Justice, Except for Trump

In the wake of a bombshell BuzzFeed News report that the president directed Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer, to lie to Congress regarding a Trump Tower project he was negotiating with Russia during the 2016 campaign, some Democrats are increasingly calling for impeachment.

They've said that, if the story is true, Trump committed obstruction of justice.

"He encouraged people to lie for him. He lied. I think he obstructed justice. I think there's a compelling case that he has, in fact, engaged in conduct that would be better for him to leave office than to stay in office," said Lindsey Graham.

But he wasn't referring to Trump. He was then a representative in the House talking about President Bill Clinton in 1999.

Clinton faced articles of impeachment for obstruction of justice charges, among others, in Congress, which ultimately led to the House impeaching him but the Senate failing to convict. And to this day, there are at least 14 sitting GOP senators who were in office at the time who voted to impeach Clinton on obstruction of justice charges–the same charges that many Republicans are now shying away from when it comes to Trump.

Those current GOP senators include Roy Blunt, Richard Burr, Mike Crapo, Mike Enzi, Chuck Grassley, Lindsey Graham, Jim Inhofe, Mitch McConnell, Jerry Moran, Rob Portman, Pat Roberts, Richard Shelby, John Thune and Roger Wicker.

"This is about a person out of control, who took the law, turned it upside down," Graham said of Clinton at the time, who was one of 13 House members to lead the obstruction charges. "Every time there was a crossroads, he put his personal or legal interests ahead of the nation. He's the chief law enforcement officer of the land."

House Democrats were swift to say they planned to investigate Trump and his alleged actions following the report, which also include him reportedly telling Cohen to set up a private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the 2016 campaign to negotiate the Trump Tower deal. To the public's knowledge, the meeting never came to fruition.

"If the story is true, then this conduct meets the definition of suborning perjury, witness tampering and obstruction of justice," Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, told Newsweek. "Even under [Attorney General Nominee] William Barr's narrow interpretation, this would amount to obstructing because Trump would be concealing evidence as opposed to directing subordinates to stop investigating."

During his confirmation hearing earlier this week, Barr said that a president persuading a person to commit perjury, change testimony or deliberately impair the integrity or availability of evidence would amount to obstruction of justice. He was also asked by Graham, who is now the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, if it would be obstruction should a president conceal evidence or try "to coach somebody not to testimony or testify falsely." He agreed.

"The first article of impeachment against President Nixon was for obstructing justice by efforts to conceal evidence, the same allegation that we have here," McQuade said.

Still, Republicans have been largely silent about the allegations, with some calling the report false or either showing reluctance to answer questions on the matter.

"It's pretty hypothetical and I'm not going to comment on that process," Blunt told CNN Friday. "Let's see what Mr. Cohen says and how credible it appears to be."

Cohen is set to testify before Congress on February 7 to provide "a full and credible account of the events which have transpired." On March 6, the former Trump "fixer" will report to prison for his three-year prison sentence for campaign finance violations, tax evasion and lying to Congress.

Portman also told CNN Friday that he had not "even seen the reports. I'm not focused on that right now."

"I've spent the last 24 hours focused on one thing and one thing only and that's getting us out of this government shutdown," Portman added. "So, my view on all this, as you know, is that the Mueller investigation is the place to sift all this out."

Considering the make-up of Congress--Democrats controlling the House and Republicans controlling the Senate--it's plausible that Trump could be impeached in the House. But, like Clinton, he would almost certainly fail to be convicted in the Senate. A two-thirds vote to convict would mean roughly 20 Republican senators would need to side with Democrats.

Special counsel Robert Mueller's office took the rare step to rebuke BuzzFeed's report Friday night, saying in a statement that the "description of specific statements to the Special Counsel's Office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen's Congressional testimony are not accurate." BuzzFeed responded by saying it stood by its reporting and requested more details be offered in regard to which elements were inaccurate.