Former GOP presidential candidate: It is ‘vital’ Trump be impeached

Former Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said Monday that it’s “vital” that President Trump is impeached, but she would not go so far as to support his removal from office. 

“I think it is vital that he be impeached,” Fiorina told CNN. “Whether removed this close to an election, I don’t know, but I think the conduct is impeachable.”

“And what I regret is that the principles that are being debated in this impeachment trial — separation of powers, abuse of power, obstruction of Congress — those principles are not as immediate or intense as partisanship or people’s belief that the policies that I care about impact me personally,” Fiorina added.  

For example, she predicted anti-abortion voters will “stand by Trump through everything, because that issue is not only important to them, but it’s personal to them.” 

But Fiorina, a former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, suggested that Trump may still get her vote in 2020, depending on who the Democratic nominee is. 

She urged Republican members of Congress ahead of an expected House vote this week on two articles of impeachment against Trump to remember that “principles matter” in the U.S. and “no one is above the law.” 

The House Judiciary Committee passed the articles on a party-line vote last Friday. If approved by the full House, the Republican-controlled Senate would decide in a trial whether to remove Trump from office. 

CNN’s Poppy Harlow also asked Fiorina on Monday what the GOP stands for today. 

“Loyalty to Trump is what I think it stands for. Sadly,” Fiorina responded, adding that she doesn’t recognize the Republican Party anymore.