WASHINGTON — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Tuesday that if President Obama moves forward with a rumored executive order to legalize five million illegal immigrants, he will be trying to provoke Republicans to impeach him because that would help Democrats in the midterm elections.

“There is a rumor that the president, around Labor Day, may use executive action to legalize five million people who are here outside the law,” Gingrich said during a speech Tuesday, sponsored by the Young America’s Foundation. “And I think if they do it, it will be trying to provoke the Republicans to institute impeachment.”

Asked if Republicans should impeach Obama, Gingrich replied: “No.”

“It won’t succeed in impeaching Obama,” Gingrich said. “It’s the Democrats who want to talk about it because they raise money off of it.”

Gingrich, speaking at the 36th Annual National Conservative Student Conference at George Washington University, explained that Democrats are able to increase fundraising numbers by making their base think impeachment is a real possibility. But Speaker of the House John Boehner ruled out the possibility of that happening on Tuesday.

Obama is considering legalizing five million illegal immigrants who are parents of American-born children, according to reports. “The country would go crazy if the president were to do something so stupid,” Gingrich said.

The plan could backfire politically on Democrats, he said. The right move for Republicans if Obama issues such an executive action, Gingrich said, would be to move a bill in the House saying it’s illegal. As that bill would move to the Senate, it would put Senate Democrats in an awkward position, he theorized.

“And the Democrats running for re-election even in seats that look like they’re not in trouble would be in trouble overnight,” he said.

Democrats have been frantically pushing the idea that Obama could be impeached over the last week.

Senior Obama aide Dan Pfeiffer has warned reporters not to “discount” the possibility￼ of impeachment. In recent days, Democrats have been begging donors to give money to their campaign committees, citing the chance of impeachment.

“These people are pretty desperate,” Gingrich said. “Nothing is working. And so they are looking for some fight that allows them to re-polarize the country in terms that help them in the election.

Continuing, Gingrich said: “I think we ought to laugh at them and say ‘if the best you can do after six years of the presidency is to yell impeachment and hope that you can raise money, it is a pretty pathetic presidency.’ And by the way, it is a pretty pathetic presidency.”

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