Trump could face fresh impeachment over Roger Stone intervention, leading House Democrat suggests

Eric Swalwell says impeaching Donald Trump for his potential interference in Roger Stone's sentencing is not "off the table" as congressional Democrats prepare to hear from administration officials about the apparent "erosion of independence" inside the Department of Justice.

The California Congressman and member of the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees told CNN that members of Congress "don't wake up in the morning wanting to impeach him" though the president has been "learning the wrong lessons" from his acquittal by the Senate, ​even after Republican allies admitted the president's wrongdoing following his impeachment in the House on charges of abuse of power and obstruction in his dealings with Ukraine and subsequent congressional investigation.

Federal prosecutors initially suggested a seven to nine year prison sentence for Mr Stone after the longtime Republican operative was found guilty of charges stemming from Robert Mueller's investigation into foreign influence in US elections in 2016. But the president tweeted his displeasure with that sentence, calling it "unfair" and a "miscarriage of justice".

Justice Department officials intervened, leading to the resignation of several prosecutors from the case.

The White House has denied the president's coordination with the Justice Department.

Mr Swalwell said: "He could just pardon Roger Stone ... but to infect his corruption into the DOJ, that's what's so concerning."

"I'm very concerned that the independence of prosecutors, the ability of judges to just weigh the facts and the evidence, is eroding, that the president is taking a wrecking ball to that", he said. "He was just impeached for that. We're not going to stop holding him accountable. We've learned that when you hold him accountable you can stop the corruption, whether he's removed or not. Ultimately it's going to be for the voters to judge in November."

Asked whether the president couldn't be impeached if found to have intervened in Mr Stone's case, he said: "We're not going to take our options off the table. We don't wake up in the morning wanting to impeach him — we want to work with him on prescription drugs, background checks and infrastructure. But we're not going to let him torch this democracy because he's thinks he's been let off once and we're not going to do something about it."

Attorney General William Barr is expected to address members of Congress following the latest scandal.