Beto O'Rourke's impeachment rhetoric shifts as Mueller report sinks in

[TexasTowelie]

by Patrick Svitek, Texas Tribune


SHENANDOAH, Iowa — Beto O’Rourke, once resistant to going out of his way to discuss impeaching President Donald Trump, has grown more outspoken on the issue following the release of the Mueller report, a notable shift from his U.S. Senate campaign.

In that contest, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, relentlessly portrayed the then-El Paso congressman as a pro-impeachment crusader, part of a Democratic Party obsessed with stopping Trump. O’Rourke regularly disputed that characterization — including in the opening days of his 2020 bid — noting that he never brought up impeachment himself on the campaign trail and insisting that he was just candidly answering questions from voters and reporters. In response to those questions, O’Rourke would say that he had seen enough evidence to support impeaching Trump.

That approach has changed after the release last month of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, which led some of his 2020 rivals — including fellow Texan Julián Castro — to suggest that the House initiate impeachment proceedings against Trump. Without any prompting from others, O’Rourke injected the issue into his remarks at a rally Friday in Fort Worth, one of multiple such instances in recent days.

“There must be consequences, there must be accountability and we must get behind the House of Representatives if they pursue impeachment,” O’Rourke said in one of his biggest applause lines of the rally. “And failing that, we must make this decision in November of 2020.”

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2019/05/05/beto-orourke-impeachment-trump-mueller/

[IADEMO2004]

1. 1st question at his next stop today and same answer.

[NYMinute]

2. Beto is a master of using words. nt