Top Obama Aide Concerned by Impeachment Threats

Dan Pfeiffer, a top aide to President Obama, said that the White House is taking the threat of a possible impeachment attempt by Republicans seriously. 

“I think a lot of people in this town laugh that off,” Pfeiffer told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast. “I would not discount that possibility. I think Speaker Boehner, by going down the path of this lawsuit, has opened the door to Republicans possibly considering impeachment at some in the future.”

Pfeiffer's comments come days after the House took steps to move forward with Speaker John Boehner's lawsuit against the President for his use of executive authority in delaying the Obamacare mandate. Boehner has made clear that he is not considering impeachment at the moment, likely trying to avoid a political overreach that could benefit Democrats in the fall. Pfeiffer dismissed the idea that an impeachment attempt might help the President. 

"I think impeachment is a very serious thing that has been bandied about by the recent Republican vice presidential nominee and others in a very unserious way," Pfeiffer continued. "And no one has even made any allegation of anything that would be within six universes from what is generally considered in that space."

The remarks come after former Vice Presidential candidate and Tea Party hype man Sarah Palin released a video calling for Obama's impeachment earlier this month. A recent CNN/ORC poll found that 57 percent of Republicans want to impeach the President.