Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Friday became the first major 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to urge her party to begin impeachment proceedings against President Trump in the wake of the special counsel’s newly released report.
Ms. Warren took to Twitter to announce her support for impeachment, saying the special counsel’s findings show a president unfit for office.
“The severity of this misconduct demands that elected officials in both parties set aside political considerations and do their constitutional duty. That means the House should initiate impeachment proceedings against the president of the United States,” she said.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, released in slightly redacted form Thursday morning, says there’s no evidence the president and his team conspired with Russia to subvert the 2016 election. That undercuts a major narrative Democrats have used to question Mr. Trump’s legitimacy.
But Mr. Mueller said the president did take actions to try to hinder the probe into Russian election meddling. The special counsel did not recommend charges, but said he could not exonerate the president. One reason he didn’t recommend charges was to leave Congress the option of impeachment.
In the day since the report’s release, the calls for impeachment have grown loud among Democrats.
SEE ALSO: Democrats refuse offer of less-redacted Mueller report
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, who would lead an impeachment inquiry, called the report a “road map” to impeachment, but said he’s not at that point yet.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a bellwether liberal, said she is. She announced she’ll sign onto articles of impeachment.
Ms. Warren now joins that push.
“To ignore a president’s repeated efforts to obstruct an investigation into his own disloyal behavior would inflict great and lasting damage on this country, and it would suggest that both the current and future presidents would be free to abuse their power in similar ways,” she wrote.
Impeachment takes only a majority vote in the House, where Democrats control matters. The articles of impeachment are then tried in the Senate, where it takes a two-thirds vote to convict and remove the president.
Given the GOP’s control of the Senate and Republicans’ different take on Mr. Mueller’s findings, it’s unlikely impeachment could succeed.
SEE ALSO: Mueller’s ‘road map’ for impeachment
Tom Steyer, the billionaire who has spearheaded an effort to impeach Mr. Trump, applauded Ms. Warren, saying she is showing “the moral courage to do what’s right.”
“Eight million Americans are thanking her for her leadership and for taking a strong stand against this dangerous president,” Mr. Steyer said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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