Former President George W. Bush’s chief ethics lawyer Richard Painter said Tuesday that President Donald Trump calling for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be prosecuted is an “impeachable offense.”

Painter sent out a tweet in reference to an early morning Twitter rant from Trump on Tuesday in which he continued to criticize Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Painter said that pressuring Sessions to prosecute Clinton is an impeachable offense. The President prosecuting his former competitor is not illegal, but Painter hinted it is not morally correct, saying if we truly value free elections, Trump should not be able to prosecute Clinton.

Pressuring AG to prosecute the person who lost the election is an impeachable offense if we value free elections. https://t.co/3J78u9ucZb

— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) July 25, 2017

Trump’s tweet blasted Sessions, saying he “has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes.” Trump said he did not “feel very strongly about” prosecuting Clinton in an interview with The New York Times in late November 2016, but Trump’s opinion has clearly changed. Trump has continued to criticize Sessions throughout July to the media and on Twitter. (RELATED: In Attacks On Sessions, Trump Reverses Course On Whether To Prosecute Hillary)

Sessions has been taking heat from Trump since he recused himself from the on-going Russia investigations in March after it was revealed the former senator met with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during the 2016 Presidential campaign. Sessions was an early supporter of Trump and left his Senate seat to join the Trump administration.

Painter does not support the president and has made several media appearances criticizing Trump. Painter said if these kind of revelations happened under the Bush administration, Donald Trump Jr. and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner would be “in custody by now” in early June.

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