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’s report constitutes “a referral to Congress to begin impeachment proceedings,” a former Trump pre-transition official said Tuesday.

"The Mueller report is, without question, a referral to Congress to begin impeachment proceedings,” J.W. Verret, a law professor at George Mason University, said on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper Jacob (Jake) Paul TapperThe media's misleading use of COVID-19 data Julia Louis-Dreyfus: 'We can't spend much time grieving' Ginsburg Pence aide dismisses concerns rushed vote on Trump nominee will hurt vulnerable senators MORE.”

"I read it twice. That was my impression the first 10 pages in, and I think we have to take it seriously," he added.

Verret served as one of the first 16 members of then-candidate Trump’s pre-transition team, serving as deputy director of economic policy before his departure in October 2016.

"The Mueller report is, without question, a referral to Congress to begin impeachment proceedings" says ex-Trump transition official @JWVerret.



"I read it twice. That was my impression the first ten pages in, and I think we have to take it seriously." https://t.co/EM1c8HkziL pic.twitter.com/OAeQZCPTNL — The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) April 23, 2019

The report, Verret said, includes sufficient evidence to begin the impeachment process, citing a “long checklist” of impeachable offenses, including several episodes Mueller's team investigated for potential obstruction of justice.

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Verret noted that impeachment is “the start of a process” rather than the active removal of a president from office.

“This is the most extensive grand jury referral I’ve ever seen,” he added.

Verret made the comments the same day he wrote a column published in The Atlantic that called for Trump's impeachment.

"Republicans who stand up to Trump today may face some friendly fire. Today’s Republican electorate seems spellbound by the sound bites of Twitter and cable news, for which Trump is a born wizard,” Verret wrote. “Yet, in time, we can help rebuild the Republican Party, enabling it to rise from the ashes of the post-Trump apocalypse into a party with renewed commitment to principles of liberty, opportunity, and the rule of law.”