CNN's Van Jones says impeachment is 'lose-lose' for Dems: 'It's a big mess'

CNN's Van Jones attempted to warn his fellow Democrats about the perils of impeaching President Donald Trump Thursday, calling it a "lose-lose" situation because of the timing and extreme publicity, according to The Hill.

Jones has a hard time seeing any positive outcomes for Democrats from the effort, and noted that it could be potentially damaging to the party's 2020 election hopes.

"If they don't do something, their own base is going to feel disappointed and feel like maybe Trump gets away too much," Jones said. "If you go through with impeachment, though, you divide the country further, you take the oxygen away from your candidates, and you still don't solve the problem of foreign interference. Just because you impeach a president, it doesn't mean you don't still have the problem of foreign interference. It's a big mess."

Jones recalled the 1990s when he said he was opposed to former President Bill Clinton, but when he was impeached, suddenly he became a Clinton defender just because he was a Democrat. Jones said he could see the same kind of circling of the wagons with Republicans, even anti-Trump ones.

"It's a tricky thing, the impeachment process, because for some Republicans it makes them want to rally around the flag," Jones said.

"When I was anti-Bill Clinton from the left in the '90s, and then they tried to impeach him, suddenly Clinton was my best friend," he continued. "I was like, 'Leave Bill Clinton alone.' So, I think you get crosscurrents in this thing, and at the same time, the Democrats are in a lose-lose situation."

Democrats have made a big show of opening an impeachment inquiry into President Trump, but have not yet specified exactly what alleged violations would be the focus of articles of impeachment. The inquiry is generally focused on conversations Trump may have had with foreign leaders pushing or encouraging them to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.