Gordon Sondland’s bombshell testimony at the impeachment hearings on Wednesday overshadowed the Democratic debate, as candidates were immediately grilled on the question of removing President Donald Trump from office.
Moderator Rachel Maddow asked Elizabeth Warren how she would build Republican support for Trump’s removal if impeachment passes the House and goes to the Senate for a trial.
But Warren and other candidates were intent on giving an answer, then moving on to variations of their stump speeches.
Warren quickly went to the influence of money in politics. She noted that Sondland became the ambassador to the European Union only after donating $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee. She said it showed “how money buys its way in Washington.” She has called for the elimination of the practice of appointing top donors as ambassadors, a longtime tradition of both parties.
Bernie Sanders said that Trump was “likely the most corrupt president in the modern history of America.”
But he said that “we cannot be consumed with Donald Trump or we will lose the election.” He pointed to an array of other issues important to working class Americans.
“What the American people understand is that Congress can walk and chew bubble gum at the same time,” Sanders said.
Amy Klobuchar said that the evidence so far showed that Trump “committed an impeachable offense.”
Pete Buttigieg said that Trump had already “confessed” to an impeachable offense on television, and pointed to the recent Trump Foundation settlement of New York state claims that it engaged in illegal practices for a charitable organization. He said that Trump “confessed to illegally diverting charitable contributions that were supposed to go to veterans.”
As he has in his stump speeches, he talked about the “tender moment” after Trump is out of office, with the challenge of how to unify the country.
Kamala Harris, though, said that “before we get to that tender moment,” they had to make sure that “justice is on the ballot.”
Joe Biden noted that the impeachment inquiry was focused on Trump’s efforts to get Ukraine to investigate he and his son. What it showed, he said, is that “Donald Trump doesn’t want me to be the nominee.”
The debate, sponsored by MSNBC and The Washington Post and held at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, was the first to feature four female moderators: The network’s Maddow, Andrea Mitchell, Hallie Jackson and The Washington Post’s Ashley Parker.
Source: Read Full Article