Beto O’Rourke Says Trump’s Crimes Go Beyond The Mueller Report

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke argued that Trump’s crimes go beyond the Mueller report and that he must be held accountable.

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Beto O’Rourke Says Trump’s Crimes Go Beyond The Mueller Report

Transcript via ABC’s This Week:

STEPHANOPOULOS: We heard Nancy Pelosi — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi say this week that she wants to see the president in prison. Do you think the president committed crimes that could be
prosecuted?

O’ROURKE: He did. I think that’s clear from what we have learned from the Mueller report. But I think those crimes might extend beyond what we’ve seen in the Mueller report. Using public office for personal gain for himself and for his family, the — the relationship that he has with — with Vladimir Putin, which has never been properly explained from the invitation as a candidate to have Russia involve itself in our elections, his efforts to obstruct justice, the fact that he called Vladimir Putin after the Mueller report was released, called it a hoax, thereby giving him a green light to further participate in our democracy and in our elections.

If we do not hold the president accountable we will have set the precedent that some people in this country, because of their position of power, are in fact above the law. And if we do that, we will lose this democracy forever. So regardless of the popularity of the idea or what the polling shows us, we must proceed with impeachment so that we get the facts and the truth and at end of the day there is justice for what was done to our Democracy in 2016 and the other potential crimes that this president has committed.

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Impeachment is a thorny question because the outcome has been predetermined, but along the lines that Nancy Pelosi is arguing, Trump is more than an impeachable president. He is a criminal. The nation faces a decision on what to do with a president who has committed crimes outside of his office. Impeachment is the remedy to send the message that accepting aid from hostile foreign governments to win a presidential election won’t be tolerated.

There is a bigger discussion that will happen if Trump loses his bid for reelection and becomes a private citizen again.

The decision to charge Trump will be made at the state level, but Trump’s crimes go beyond the Mueller report and the presidency, and the nation may soon be faced with handling a former criminal president.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association