Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said that she would “absolutely” support impeaching President Trump if reports of Trump attempting to stymie FBI investigations are true.
Warren told Jezebel Wednesday that lawmakers would first have to investigate allegations that Trump asked Comey to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn and that Trump shared classified information with Russian officials before deciding to pursue impeachment.
{mosads}“We absolutely need to get a hold of Comey’s notes, any other written papers, any tapes that may have been made, and we need to get witnesses in here under oath,” she said. “Let’s do our fact gathering so we’ve got all of the facts on the table in front of us and then evaluate whether or not those facts lead to a charge of impeachment.”
The Washington Post reported Monday that Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian diplomats during a meeting last week. And The New York Times reported Monday that Comey had written in a memo that Trump asked him to dismiss the investigation into Flynn after Flynn was fired.
Warren said that she believed GOP members of Congress were also concerned about the reports. Several Republican lawmakers have since said that impeachment would be on the table if an investigation found that Trump had asked Comey to stop the Flynn investigation, and the Department of Justice appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counselor for the Russia investigation Wednesday.
“I believe they do see the risks,” Warren said. “Now, I think many of them are hesitating about what they want to do about it politically. But I’m urging all of them: Put country above party. This should not be a political issue. What Donald Trump has done threatens the security of the United States and we need Congress to step up and act like grown-ups here. We’re the ones who have to be responsible now.”
Warren echoed those statements during an interview with the International Business Times Thursday, saying that there is a “bipartisan consensus” that obstruction of justice is an impeachable offense.
“That’s the offense that if the facts that are alleged are proven, that’s the offense in front of us right now,” she said. “In fact, I should say from Donald Trump’s own mouth, those are the facts that are in front of us right now.”
“But the addition that Donald Trump asked Comey to halt his investigation of Flynn into the ties again, between Russia, the Trump administration and Trump himself, is obstruction of justice. If those facts are alleged, I mean we’re right at the heart of it,” she added.
Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) called for Trump’s impeachment on the House floor Wednesday but has not yet introduced a resolution to begin the process.