J.W. Verret, a George Mason University law professor who served on President Donald Trump’s transition team, is calling on Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings in the wake of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. “This is serious stuff,” Verret told CNN’s Don Lemon in an interview Tuesday. “The Mueller report I think is something you can’t look away from. I mean you have to admit it: The emperor has no clothes.”

Former Trump transition staffer J.W. Verret says Congress should begin impeachment proceedings: "The Mueller report is ... something you can't look away from. You have to admit it. The emperor has no clothes" https://t.co/KTdmEZO8bGpic.twitter.com/pgTMZKsydo — CNN (@CNN) April 24, 2019

Verret, a lifelong Republican, was deputy director of economic policy on Trump’s presidential transition team beginning in August 2016. He quit after just two months, he wrote in an op-ed published Tuesday in The Atlantic, citing concerns over Trump’s views on immigration, financial regulation and Russia. Over time, his view of Trump evolved from distasteful to disastrous. “The Mueller report was that tipping point for me,” Verret wrote, “and it should be for Republican and independent voters, and for Republicans in Congress.” Like Hillary Clinton and several other high-profile Democrats, Verret said he believes Mueller stopped short of charging Trump with a crime solely because of a Justice Department policy that prohibits indicting a sitting president. “Depending on how you count, roughly a dozen separate instances of obstruction of justice are contained in the Mueller report,” Verret wrote. “The president dangled pardons in front of witnesses to encourage them to lie to the special counsel, and directly ordered people to lie to throw the special counsel off the scent.” He continued: “This elaborate pattern of obstruction may have successfully impeded the Mueller investigation from uncovering a conspiracy to commit more serious crimes. At a minimum, there’s enough here to get the impeachment process started.” Verret first called for Trump’s impeachment in a series of tweets on Saturday. He continued to argue the severity of Trump’s apparent misconduct in a statement issued Tuesday by Checks & Balances, a group of conservative and libertarian attorneys that also includes George Conway, husband of senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway.

Finished a second read through the Mueller Report. I don’t say this lightly, as a life long Republican, former R Hill staffer, and someone who has worked on every R campaign and pre-transition team for the last ten years. There is enough here to begin impeachment proceedings. — J.W. Verret (@JWVerret) April 20, 2019

That does not suggest what the outcome of such a proceeding will be, impeachment is only the beginning of an inquiry. Analogous to a grand jury investigation. But it’s time, it really is. — J.W. Verret (@JWVerret) April 20, 2019