Democratic White House hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., reiterated her call for impeaching President Trump at a campaign event in New Hampshire Saturday, saying that the Mueller report shows Trump’s intent to obstruct justice.
“I know people say this is politically charged and we shouldn’t go there, and that there is an election coming up, but there are some things that are bigger than politics,” Warren told a crowd Saturday morning at Keene College, New Hampshire.
“We cannot be an America that says it is OK for a president of the United States to try and block an investigation into a foreign attack on our country or an investigation into that president’s own misbehavior — so I have called on the House to initiate impeachment proceedings.”
The Massachusetts lawmaker first called for impeachment Friday, a day after the redacted version of the Mueller report was released to the public.
“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,” Warren began in a series of tweets.
“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.”
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.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) April 19, 2019
Mueller’s investigation identified 10 episodes that could be viewed as potential obstruction of justice but did not recommend any further indictments, allowing the Justice Department to make its own determination.
At Attorney General William Barr’s press conference on Thursday morning, Barr said that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein disagreed with some of the legal frameworks used by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team regarding possible obstruction of justice and “felt that some of the episodes examined did not amount to obstruction as a matter of law.”
“In assessing the president’s actions discussed in the report, it is important to bear in mind the context,” Barr said. “President Trump faced an unprecedented situation. As he entered into office and sought to perform his responsibilities as president, federal agents and prosecutors were scrutinizing his conduct before and after taking office and the conduct of some of his associates. At the same time, there was relentless speculation in the news media about the president’s personal culpability.”
“Apart from whether the acts were obstructive, this evidence of noncorrupt motives weighs heavily against any allegation that the president had a corrupt intent to obstruct the investigation,” Barr said.
According to the latest RealClearPolitics polling average, Warren sits a distant sixth place with 6% of support. Former Vice President Joe Biden, who is expected to announce his presidential bid next week, leads the pack with 30%, edging out second-place Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., by 7.5 percentage points.
