Blackmail is a crime. It s time to impeach Donald Trump.Despite a desperate effort by the White House to deny it, Trump derailed those efforts by posting on Twitter Friday morning.In response to a Washington Post story in which Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski claim that Trump tried to blackmail them in order to force them to apologize by promising to stop a National Enquirer tabloid story about the pair if they complied with his demands, Trump went on Twitter and confirmed the whole thing.Watched low rated @Morning_Joe for first time in long time. FAKE NEWS. He called me to stop a National Enquirer article. I said no! Bad show  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2017The problem for Trump is that while he claims Scarborough called him and he s the one who said no, Scarborough has actual evidence to support his side of the story and he informed Trump of that on Twitter while calling him out for lying at the same time.Yet another lie. I have texts from your top aides and phone records. Also, those records show I haven t spoken with you in many months. https://t.co/TZWiElo6Gs  Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) June 30, 2017Why do you keep lying about things that are so easily disproven? What is wrong with you? https://t.co/aAoUj5HYZS  Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) June 30, 2017So Trump not only lied again, he literally tried to use blackmail against members of the media. It s all the more credible since the owner of the National Enquirer is David Pecker, a longtime friend of Trump s.If anyone should be apologizing to someone, it s Trump. What he said about Brzezinski on Thursday was totally deplorable and completely beneath the dignity of the office he holds.As you recall, Trump attacked the Morning Joe hosts for criticizing him earlier in the week by claiming that Mika was  bleeding badly from a face-lift  and that she is  crazy. I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don t watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came..  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017 to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year s Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017All Trump had to do is ignore their rightful criticisms. Instead, he lashed out because he has thin skin and a vulnerable ego and made things worse by trying to blackmail them. That s the very definition of abuse of power.This national circus has to be put to an end. Trump s crimes in office far exceed Richard Nixon s during Watergate. Trump should be sitting in prison, not in the Oval Office.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images