Democratic presidential candidates divided over Trump impeachment process

The 2020 Democratic presidential contenders appear to be growing as divided as their House colleagues over the question of whether President Trump should be dragged into the impeachment process.

They all want Mr. Trump out, but they don’t agree on whether having the House bring charges against him is the best way to get there.

Signs are cropping up on the campaign trail, just as in the House, that momentum could be shifting, as Democratic contenders turn to impeachment as a way to spice up their message and strengthen their appeal with party activists.

“It is red meat for the base of the Democratic Party in the more liberal cities and more liberal states. It is red meat for African Americans, and it is red meat for women because of the new abortion battle,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic strategist. “With all that being said, it does help unify the base for someone potentially.”

Looking to regain his footing in the 24-person Democratic field, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke offered his first full-throated endorsement for impeachment at a CNN town hall this week, telling Iowa voters that the short-term risk is worth the long-term reward.

“If we do nothing because we are afraid of the polls or the politics or the repercussions in the next election, then we will have set a precedent for this country that, in fact, some people because of the position of power and public trust that they hold are above the law,” the Texas Democrat said.

Mr. O’Rourke, who has been lagging in the polls, could be trying to follow in the footsteps of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, whose star has been rising since she came out in favor of impeachment shortly after special counsel Robert Mueller released the findings of his Russia probe.

The report found no evidence that Mr. Trump and his team conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 election. But it did say the president tried to undermine the investigation, leaving Congress the option of impeachment and opening the door for the 2020 contenders to take a stand.

“To ignore a president’s repeated efforts to obstruct an investigation into his own disloyal behavior would inflict great and lasting damage on this country, and it would suggest that both the current and future presidents would be free to abuse their power in similar ways,” Ms. Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, said at the time.

A Monmouth University Poll released Wednesday found that by a 56-39% margin voters do not think Mr. Trump should be impeached. The survey broke along partisan lines, with 74% of Democrats, 30 % of independents, and 10 % of Republicans backing impeachment.

A separate Monmouth survey this month found that more than half of Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire said it is “not important” that the party nominate someone who supports impeaching Mr. Trump, compared to 20% who say it is “very important” and 18% who say it is “somewhat important.”

“The vast majority of Democrats want Trump out of office by any means necessary, but they are also realistic about the prospects of impeachment,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “They don’t want that to create a distraction from finding a nominee who can oust him in next year’s election.”

That could help explain why many of the 2020 contenders have left the impeachment option on the table without going all-in.

They have backed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who says Mr. Trump is goading Democrats into a fight that could backfire politically and says the House investigative committees should be able to look into some of the questions raised in the Mueller report before considering impeachment.

“The Congress is attempting to take that up, and what the Congress should do, and they are doing, is investigate that,” former Vice President Joseph R. Biden said late last month. “If, in fact, [Mr. Trump and his allies] blocked the investigation, [members of Congress] have no alternative, but to go to the only other constitutional resort they have is impeachment.”

Even if the House were to pass Articles of Impeachment against the president for having committed high crimes and misdemeanors, Mr. Trump likely would be acquitted in the Republican-controlled Senate, where two-thirds of the chamber must vote to convict and remove him.

The pro-impeachment forces argue that the effort could unearth information that the Trump administration has refused to hand over to Congress, damaging him politically and forcing GOP lawmakers to pick sides in what could be an ugly public battle.

Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont has yet to join those calls, but inched closer in that direction Wednesday, telling CNN that “it may well be time for an impeachment inquiry to begin.”

But Mr. Sanders continued to raise concerns that the process could pull attention away from key policy differences that, he said, could prevent Mr. Trump from winning a second term.

Meanwhile, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, says the “best way” to end Mr. Trump’s tenure is “for there to be an enormous defeat for this presidency and what he represents at the ballot box.”