Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., welcomes an effort by Democrats to impeach President Trump, if only because he sees it as being political suicide.
“As a Republican, I hope the Democrats go ahead with this,” King said on Fox News on Tuesday. “I think it will explode against them politically. As an American, I think it’s bad for the country and there are a number of Democrats who realize it is both bad for the country and bad for them.”
The New York lawmaker, who is a vocal supporter of Trump, also said that the fractures within the Democratic Party on the impeachment issue were evident, with the far-left wing of the party pressuring the center-left. “The last thing they want to talk about is impeachment,” King said of Democratic leaders.
“Now that [special counsel Robert] Mueller has said there is no collusion, it will make President Trump stronger in their districts than before. Many sensible Democrats don’t want to go ahead for political and national security reasons,” he added.
White House hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called for impeachment last week, a day after the redacted version of the Mueller report was released to the public. Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee also suggested last week that impeachment should be considered.
Two other 2020 candidates, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, say the way to beat Trump in 2020 election is to focus on policy. Buttigieg has said that while there’s “evidence that this president deserves to be impeached” he would leave the decision to Congress so he can focus on defeating Trump at the ballot box.
Gabbard said on Monday: “The conclusion that came from that Mueller report was that no collusion took place. Now is the time for us to come together as a country to put the issues and the interests and the concerns that the American people have at the forefront, to take action to bring about real solutions for them.”
[Read more: Pelosi leans on leadership team in urging caucus to set aside calls for impeachment]
