Salem Mayor Slams Trump On CNN For Witch Trials Comments

SALEM, MA — It wasn't the first time Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll has criticized President Donald Trump for likening his impeachment to the 17th century witch trials for which her city is famous, but her appearance Tuesday on CNN gave her the biggest audience to date to do so.

In a nationally televised interview on CNN, Driscoll said Trump should "learn some history" after the president claimed that people accused in the witch trials received more due process than he has in the impeachment inquiry.

"The whole point of the witch trials is there was no rule of law," Driscoll, a Democrat, said in the interview. "You would never think you would have to retell this history .... But to see both the president and his supporters using the witch trials is offensive to descendants of these victims."

The 1692 witch trials resulted in the execution of 19 innocent men and women accused of witchcraft. The trials did not use the "innocent until proven guilty" legal standard and relied on forced confessions as well as evidence from dreams.

"Will they ever learn some history?" Driscoll said in a Twitter post that prompted CNN to interview her. "This situation is much different than the plight of the witch trial victims, who were convicted using spectral evidence + then brutally hanged or pressed to death. A dubious legal process that bears no relation to televised impeachment."