White House hopeful Julián Castro called on House Democrats to impeach President Trump after reports surfaced that he urged the Ukrainian president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, his chief political rival in the 2020 race.
“You cannot sit by as the highest officeholder in the land flagrantly violates the law and violates every norm of a healthy democracy that we have, because it’s setting a terrible standard for people in the future. We can never normalize this,” Castro said on the campaign trail.{mosads}
“He needs to be impeached. I love these House Democrats—my brother is one of them, but it’s time for them to do something. It’s time for them to act,” he added, referring to his identical twin Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas).
Democrats have fumed over media reports that emerged Friday revealing that Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a July phone call to investigate Biden’s son.
Trump’s discussions with Zelensky have come under heightened scrutiny in recent days after news broke of a whistleblower report detailing a troubling “promise” the president made to a foreign leader. It was later reported that the whistleblower’s claims specifically centered around Ukraine.
Republicans have pointed to Biden’s efforts in 2016 to get a prosecutor dismissed who was investigating a natural gas company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch, whose board members included his son, Hunter. No evidence has surfaced to suggest Biden acted to protect his son.