U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Friday called for impeachment proceedings against President Trump — becoming the first major presidential candidate to take the leap after the release of the Mueller report
Warren said, “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 added, “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.”
Warren issued her call for impeachment proceedings in the Democratic-controlled House on Twitter, later releasing the statement through her presidential campaign. She became the first major 2020 Democratic hopeful to actually call for impeachment in the wake of the Mueller report — though Julián Castro tweeted, “I think it would be perfectly reasonable for Congress to open up impeachment hearings against President Trump.”
Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, fired back at Warren on Twitter, saying Trump “was just exonerated after TWO YEARS of Democratic lies.”
“Democrats’ calls for impeachment have been bogus all along, but Elizabeth Warren is proving how truly desperate they are to appeal to their radical base,” McDaniel said.
Warren continues to lag in polls of the Democratic presidential contenders, showing single-digit support, well behind Bernie Sanders and even the undeclared Joe Biden.
U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney was among the few Republicans to speak out critically of Trump after the Mueller report release, saying Friday he was “sickened at the extent and pervasiveness” of the “dishonesty and misdirection” of individuals in the Trump administration and the president himself. Romney has had a tumultuous relationship with Trump — welcoming his endorsement in the 2012 election, then repudiating him in the 2016 election, before meeting with him to discuss possibly becoming his secretary of state. As a senator, Romney has become critical of Trump again.