Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called on Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump in the wake of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the 2016 election.
In a series of tweets Friday, Warren said the report showed that Trump “welcomed” the help of Russia to win the 2016 election, then “obstructed” the investigation into Russian involvement.
Warren said that ignoring Trump’s “disloyal behavior would inflict great and lasting damage on this country” and that the “severity of this misconduct demands that elected officials” begin impeachment hearings against Trump.
The Mueller report lays out facts showing that a hostile foreign government attacked our 2016 election to help Donald Trump and Donald Trump welcomed that help. Once elected, Donald Trump obstructed the investigation into that attack.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) April 19, 2019
Mueller put the next step in the hands of Congress: “Congress has authority to prohibit a President’s corrupt use of his authority in order to protect the integrity of the administration of justice.” The correct process for exercising that authority is impeachment.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) April 19, 2019
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.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) April 19, 2019
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.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) April 19, 2019
Here is Warren’s statement in full:
The Mueller report lays out facts showing that a hostile foreign government attacked our 2016 election to help Donald Trump and Donald Trump welcomed that help. Once elected, Donald Trump obstructed the investigation into that attack. Mueller put the next step in the hands of Congress: “Congress has authority to prohibit a President’s corrupt use of his authority in order to protect the integrity of the administration of justice.” The correct process for exercising that authority is impeachment. 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. 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.
In the wake of the Mueller report, a number of 2020 Democrats spoke out against the president, but none explicitly called for the House to begin impeachment proceedings.
Warren becomes the first major Democrat running for president to call for impeachment.
Democratic leadership in the House downplayed the possibility of impeachment yesterday, with House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (R-Md.) telling CNN that he didn’t think it was “worthwhile. “
“Based on what we have seen to date, going forward on impeachment is not worthwhile at this point,” Hoyer said. “Very frankly, there is an election in 18 months and the American people will make a judgment.”
However, some of the younger members of Congress have already tried to begin the process. On Thursday, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said they would support a resolution that called on the House to begin impeachment proceedings.
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