DETROIT — As special counsel Robert Mueller testified before Congress about his report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, impeachment of President Trump was a major focus of attendees and some Democratic presidential hopefuls at the 110th annual NAACP Convention.
“This is a moment in history, and every single person in Congress should be called on to vote and then have to live with that vote for the rest of their lives,” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in her opening remarks during the convention’s presidential candidate forum on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, NAACP leadership unanimously voted in support of the House starting impeachment proceedings against Trump. Derrick Johnson, the organization’s president and CEO, said in a statement that the president “has led one of the most racist and xenophobic administrations since the Jim Crow era,” citing Trump’s attempts to “curtail” Mueller’s investigation, his tweet telling progressive Congresswomen to “go back,” conditions at migrant detention centers, and efforts to add a citizenship question to the Census.
Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said that Mueller’s report “is enough of an indication that the House of Representatives should begin impeachment proceedings against this president,” adding that he was proud that the NAACP also supports impeachment.
“We are reminded of something you [the NAACP] has always stood for, and Donald Trump better be listening, in America, as someone once said, the law is the king, the king is not the law,” said Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar said.
California Sen. Kamala Harris criticized Attorney General William Barr for “misleading the American people” about the contents of Mueller’s report. “The only reason there was not an indictment returned was because of a memo in the United States Department of Justice that says a sitting president cannot be indicted,” Harris said.
“We know for a fact that the president did everything he could to obstruct the Mueller investigation,” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said. Sanders has supported impeachment proceedings in the past but did not renew his call during the conference, opting to focus more on combating Trump’s “hatred and divisiveness” by leading an energizing presidential campaign.
Not all of the candidates at the forum addressed impeachment or received questions about Mueller’s investigation.
Troy, New York NAACP branch president Renee Powell, 62, said that presidential candidates “should be calling for impeachment” in light of the Mueller report.
“It was very clear to me that there had been some, I’ll say crimes, was some wrongdoing that had been committed. And I think they were impeachable offenses,” Powell told the Washington Examiner.
Voicing support for impeachment, though, may not be the issue that tips the scales for a voter to choose between one Democratic presidential hopeful and another.
Richard Robins, a 37-year-old teacher from Lansing, Michigan, told the Washington Examiner that calling for impeachment is “more icing on the cake” for presidential candidates. “The cake is the issues that are going to help me directly. And that is those issues like healthcare, student loan debt,” he said.
