Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro (D) on Monday became the latest Democratic presidential candidate to say he thinks Congress should take steps to impeach President Trump.
In a radio interview, Castro said that he thinks actions to impeach the president would be “perfectly reasonable” following the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
{mosads}“What’s clear from the Mueller Report is that Bob Mueller and his team left the decision about whether to move forward on this obstruction of justice issue with Congress,” Castro told SiriusXM host Michelangelo Signorile.
“So, what I said the other day is that I was asked, ‘Well, do you think that it, that they should move forward with an impeachment proceeding?’ And I think, yeah, that it would be perfectly reasonable for Congress to do that, that they should do that.”
Castro told Signorile that he thought the findings in Mueller’s redacted report indicate Trump “attempted in very concrete ways to obstruct justice.”
Mueller’s report makes no final determination on obstruction but says it cannot exonerate Trump for obstruction, listing 10 occasions the special counsel’s office investigated for potential obstruction.
Democratic presidential hopefuls have given varying answers on the question of impeachment, which would almost certainly be doomed in the Republican-controlled Senate even if it passed the Democratic-controlled House.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said Congress should “take the steps toward impeachment” at a CNN town hall Monday evening, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called on the House to begin impeachment proceedings last week.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) on Tuesday said that the House is “on that road” in the wake of the Mueller report, while Miramar, Fla., Mayor Wayne Messam (D) also endorsed impeachment Monday. Castro has previously told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that “Bob Mueller in his report left [impeachment] in the hands of Congress.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), however, have both downplayed the possibility of impeachment proceedings.
“I believe that at the end of the day the decision they’re going to have to make is, are you going to hold this president accountable for the fact that he tried on several occasions to obstruct justice?” Castro told Signorile.