A former lawmaker who pushed to impeach President Nixon in 1974 says that President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE is "systematically" abusing his power and warned that offers of pardons to former associates could be considered an impeachable offense.

Former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman (D-N.Y.) told MSNBC on Thursday that reports that Trump had discussed pardons for former associates including Paul Manafort Paul John ManafortOur Constitution is under attack by Attorney General William Barr Bannon trial date set in alleged border wall scam Conspicuous by their absence from the Republican Convention MORE bore similarity to the reasons cited in the articles of impeachment brought forward by her committee against Nixon.

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"I'm going to go back to Watergate and I'm going to say that part of the articles of impeachment that were voted by the House Judiciary Committee had to do with offers of pardons to the burglars to keep them quiet," Holtzman said.

"That is an abuse of power," she continued. "It is an abuse of power to use your pardon to shut people up because they could tell the truth about you, when you've violated the law."

Holtzman concluded that reports of the president's intention to possibly pardon Manafort and other former campaign officials, when combined with his threats to remove Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsRoy Moore sues Alabama over COVID-19 restrictions GOP set to release controversial Biden report Trump's policies on refugees are as simple as ABCs MORE and special counsel Robert Mueller Robert (Bob) MuellerCNN's Toobin warns McCabe is in 'perilous condition' with emboldened Trump CNN anchor rips Trump over Stone while evoking Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting The Hill's 12:30 Report: New Hampshire fallout MORE, constituted a possibly impeachable offense.

"Trying to get rid of Sessions because he recused himself, which he had to do under ethics rules of the Justice Department...what we are seeing here is the president of the United States systematically abusing his power, time after time...this circumstance, that circumstance, abusing the power of his office."

Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani appeared to say Thursday that Trump had discussed with him the possibility of pardoning Manafort, before later releasing a statement clarifying that the conversation was a general one about pardons and not "Manafort specific."

“We told him he should wait until all the investigations are over,” Giuliani told The Washington Post. “This [Special Counsel] case is a strange case. It won’t be decided by a jury. It will decided by the Justice Department and Congress and ultimately the American people. You have to be sensitive to public optics."

The statement was a clear shift from his remarks in June on CNN, when Giuliani told the network that Trump “is not going to issue pardons in this investigation."

Manafort was found guilty this week on eight counts of tax and bank fraud, while a mistrial was declared on the remaining 10 counts. He faces another trial in Washington, D.C., next month.