When it comes to impeachment, less is more. That’s the advice former Massachusetts governor — and Nixon impeachment veteran — Bill Weld had for the Democrats in Washington, as he filed paperwork to challenge President Trump on the Republican presidential ballot in New Hampshire.

“I don’t think I need to give advice to Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff, I think that they know what they’re doing,” Weld told NHJournal. “In general, I think it’s better to simplify articles rather than blow them up.”

Recounting his role as associate minority counsel during the Watergate inquiry (opposite future first lady Hillary Rodham), Weld said that “there were many, many straws in the Nixon impeachment, but it was winnowed down to three. I think that John Doar and Burt Jenner, the chief counsel, and Peter Rodino, the chairman, were wise to winnow down the charges and concentrate on just a few.”

Weld, facing an uphill climb in a primary against a sitting president whose approval among Republicans hovers around 80 percent, had kind words for fellow Trump challenger Mark Sanford, who dropped out of the GOP primary Tuesday. Weld told reporters he’d spoken to the former South Carolina governor about the race, but rejected Sanford’s view that impeachment is “sucking all the oxygen” out of the campaigns of Republicans hoping to topple Trump in the primary.

“Not at all,” Weld said. “I think it’s possible that as the hearings progress and cold, hard controvertible facts are put onto the table that are hard to gainsay, impeachment could actually put a lot of oxygen into the room — a lot of oxygen that will fuel the candidacy of people like myself.”

Weld added that he believes Trump is facing “a richly deserved impeachment by the U.S. House and removal by the U.S. Senate. In my view, that’s their duty under the Constitution.”

Former Trump campaign manager and potential New Hampshire candidate for the Senate Corey Lewandowski is unimpressed.

“Who’s Bill Weld? Never heard of him. Neither has anyone else in New Hampshire,” Lewandowski said. “But if he runs, we look forward to crushing him in the New Hampshire primary.”

State Rep. Fred Doucette, co-chair of the Trump campaign in New Hampshire, added, “I fail to see the logic in acknowledging this self-proclaimed libertarian for life,” he told NHJournal.

Michael Graham is politics editor for InsideSources.com.