Politics

Elizabeth Warren Throws Down The Gauntlet, Calls For Impeachment

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
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Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren responded to the Mueller report on Friday by launching a Twitter tirade that ended with a call for President Donald Trump’s impeachment.

She began by claiming that Trump received help from “a hostile foreign government” during the 2016 election, adding, “Once elected, Donald Trump obstructed the investigation into that attack.”

Warren appeared to leave out the primary conclusion reached by Mueller and his team, namely that there was no evidence that either Trump or anyone on his team cooperated with the Russians in any way, opting instead to claim that Trump “welcomed” the help. (RELATED: Washington Post’s Front Page Leaves Out Mueller’s Primary Finding: No Collusion)

She then suggested that Mueller had “put the next step in the hands of Congress” specifically because Congress had the power and authority to impeach.

She added her own call to Congress, arguing that if they didn’t act, they would be sending a message — both to Trump and to any presidents who follow him — that “repeated efforts to obstruct an investigation into his own disloyal behavior” would be allowed to carry on.

“The severity of this misconduct demands that elected officials in both parties set aside political considerations and do their constitutional duty,” she concluded. “That means the House should initiate impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States.”

The Massachusetts senator and 2020 contender appeared to be at odds with party leadership, as Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer argued that impeachment was “not worthwhile at this point,” although he later noted that he might change his mind if the full report offered new information. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also brushed off the question of impeachment in mid-March. “He’s not worth it,” she said. (RELATED: Nancy Pelosi Doesn’t Want To Impeach Trump: ‘He’s Not Worth It’)

Warren is not the first Democrat to call for Trump’s impeachment. California Rep. Maxine Waters began sounding the alarm before the 2017 inauguration and has repeated the call on a variety of occasions for a variety of reasons. Freshman Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York have cited both Mueller’s report and alleged violations of the emoluments clause as reasons to impeach.

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