Democratic presidential candidate John Hickenlooper, who had previously been cautious on pushing to impeach President Trump, on Thursday said it’s time for Congress to start an impeachment “inquiry.”
“That doesn’t mean we’re going to impeach President Trump tomorrow, or maybe ever, but I think we do have an obligation to follow where the facts lead,” the former Colorado governor said on CNN’s “New Day.”
Mr. Hickenlooper, who said he thinks of himself as an “extreme moderate,” added he looks at the inquiry as separate from impeachment proceedings, where lawmakers are trying to generate articles of impeachment.
“We have to go out and try and get the facts,” he said.
He also said that since the GOP-led Senate would never vote to actually convict Mr. Trump, Democrats will have to beat the president at the ballot box in 2020.
Mr. Hickenlooper had previously called for special counsel Robert Mueller to testify to Congress and for an unredacted copy of Mr. Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“[Mueller] was very direct that this is the responsibility of Congress — this is their constitutional role,” the former governor said of the special counsel’s statement on Wednesday. “The way he laid it out there was pretty direct.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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