Sen. Michael Bennet, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, on Thursday said lawmakers would be doing President Trump a favor if they move too swiftly to impeach him.
“If we go down the road tomorrow and impeach President Trump, we’re actually giving him a favor,” the Colorado Democrat said at a CNN town hall. “That’s what he wants, to be able to say he was railroaded, and then to have the impeachment from the House go to the Senate where I guarantee you Mitch McConnell and the Republicans are not going to convict Donald Trump.”
Mr. Bennet said he thinks Mr. Trump has “probably” committed impeachable offenses, and that Congress should investigate and follow the evidence where it leads.
“I think that we should call them … Russia proceedings involving the president or whatever it is we want to call them,” he said. “If that leads us to impeachment, it leads us to impeachment. I wouldn’t be surprised if it did. I say the president, in my view, I think he committed impeachable offenses, but we have to go through the process.”
Some 2020 contenders have said special counsel Robert Mueller’s statement this week, in which Mr. Mueller declined to exonerate Mr. Trump based on what he found in his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, means Congress has been left no choice but to move forward with impeachment proceedings.
But Mr. Bennet’s comment that Mr. Trump would welcome impeachment tracks with remarks from other Democrats such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has said she thinks Mr. Trump wants to be impeached by the Democrat-led House so the GOP-led Senate can clear him.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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