Presidential long shot Tulsi Gabbard opted not to back the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into President Trump during a Tuesday interview on CNN. The conversation took place prior to Speaker Pelosi’s official announcement, but CNN had already reported what she was going to say during her presser.
“Look, my position remains the same. I think that impeachment would be terribly divisive for our already very divided country,” Gabbard stated. “I think Congress needs to exercise oversight over the information that’s been leaked. I think that it’s important that this transcript is released to Congress so that Congress can do its job. But I think the question of impeachment really would further tear apart an already divided country.”
The Hawaii Representative repeatedly stated that Democrats should be focused on beating the president at the ballot box instead of through impeachment, going as far as to say that if her 2020 opponents “don’t think they can” beat Trump, “then maybe they shouldn’t be running.”
She continued, “If the motivation is political and the evidence is not there for those who are calling for impeachment to continue to pursue that, that just proves how divisive this will be because then whether it’s Donald Trump’s supporters or Republicans, moderates, independents, they’ll say okay, gosh, guys come on, this is politics as usual, you couldn’t beat Trump in 2016. Now you’re trying to do it through Congress.”
The impeachment inquiry comes on the heels of numerous reports alleging Trump withheld aid to Ukraine unless the incoming Ukrainian president agreed to investigate 2020 front-runner Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
