2020 presidential candidate Robert O’Rourke became the latest Democrat to call for Congress to begin the process to impeach President Donald Trump after the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
From The Dallas Morning News:
“We’re finally learning the truth about this president. And yes, there has to be consequences. Yes, there has to be accountability. Yes, I think there’s enough evidence now for the House of Representatives to move forward with impeachment,” he said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. “This is our country, and this is the one chance that we get to ensure that it remains a democracy and that no man, regardless of his position, is above the law.”
When O’Rourke served in the House of Representatives, he voted twice “against opening impeachment proceedings.” He avoided the impeachment talk at the start of his presidential campaign and during his Senate campaign.
In New Hampshire, O’Rourke told reporters:
Asked about the shift here Sunday morning, O’Rourke acknowledged he used to discuss impeachment only when asked about it, and he indicated the Mueller report had given him cause to be more vocal on the stump.“I spoke about it as something that we all need to be thinking about and asking our elected representatives about,” O’Rourke told reporters. “Because now there is the report that we have been waiting for. There is an ability to answer any outstanding questions about whether there was obstruction, about what the president attempted to do about the pattern of lies and cover-up, and [it’s] very clear to me that if there is not a consequence to that, we are saying to this and future generations that this kind of behavior is acceptable, and that cannot stand.”
Other candidates have called for impeachment, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Kamala Harris, and former HUD Secretary Julian Castro. Former Vice President Joe Biden said Congress should only start “impeachment proceedings if the White House works to block Democrats from its efforts to investigate the president.”
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has consistently pushed aside impeachment as she claimed it causes too much division. She also thinks it would hurt the chances of a Democrat winning the presidency and other seats in Congress in 2020.
Reporters asked O’Rourke about Pelosi’s position. He explained that he respects “the speaker and what she’s been able to do, but when asked my opinion I’ve got to give my opinion and not anybody else’s.”
O’Rourke previously stated that the 2020 election is the best way to remove Trump.
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