Donald Trump

Warren Calls on House to Initiate Impeachment Proceedings Against Trump

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren called for the House to begin impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump in a series of tweets on Friday afternoon.

"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," said Warren, a 2020 Democratic presidential contender. "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."

Special counsel Robert Mueller's report, made public Thursday, revealed that Trump tried to seize control of the Russia probe and force Mueller's removal to stop him from investigating potential obstruction of justice by the president.

Mueller laid out multiple episodes in which Trump directed others to influence or curtail the Russia investigation after the special counsel's appointment in May 2017. Trump was largely thwarted by those around him.

Warren said ignoring 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."

She said the severity of Trump's 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."

Other Democratic presidential hopefuls have said the report puts the question of impeachment on the table.

Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, told NBC News Friday that there's "evidence that this president deserves to be impeached" but added that he is not in Congress and will leave it those who are to decide whether to pursue proceedings.

Democratic presidential contender Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota dodged the question of whether Trump should face impeachment on MSNBC's "All in With Chris Hayes" Thursday, while Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., did not rule it out.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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