Already comfortable as an outlier in her party, Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard did not support the impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump, voting 鈥減resent鈥� Wednesday on two articles that cleared the House.
In a lengthy statement released after the House charged the president with abuse of power and obstructing Congress, Gabbard said that Trump 鈥渧iolated public trust鈥� but that voters would be able to hold him accountable in the 2020 election.
The Hawaii congresswoman, a periodic Trump defender and long an impeachment skeptic, framed herself as a rational centrist between two partisan mobs. Republicans, she wrote, were 鈥渂lindly鈥� defending the president and 鈥渁bdicating ... legitimate oversight,鈥� while Democrats were driven by an 鈥渆xtreme鈥� characterization of the president as a would-be dictator.
鈥淚 could not in good conscience vote against impeachment because I believe President Trump is guilty of wrongdoing,鈥� she explained. 鈥淚 also could not in good conscience vote for impeachment because removal of a sitting President must not be the culmination of a partisan process, fueled by tribal animosities that have so gravely divided our country.鈥�
Gabbard noted that she voted for the impeachment inquiry three months ago and has since introduced a resolution calling for Trump鈥檚 censure after disclosure that he asked Ukraine鈥檚 president to help investigate already debunked allegations of corruption against former Vice President Joe Biden, who is also seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
Trump, Gabbard鈥檚 resolution states, abused 鈥渢he powers of his high office,鈥� when he 鈥渟olicited the interference of Ukraine in the 2020 United States Presidential election.鈥�
The two House articles set up a Senate trial that is all but certain to end in Trump鈥檚 acquittal.
Gabbard was one of just a handful of Democrats who did not back impeachment. Two Democrats voted against the first article: Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, who is considering switching parties to become a Republican, and Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota, whose district went overwhelmingly for Trump in 2016. Those two and freshman Democratic Rep. Jared Golden of Maine also voted against the second article.
Trump, at a rally Wednesday night in Michigan, celebrated that 鈥渢hree Democrats went over to our side.鈥�
Gabbard has defined her quixotic presidential bid with atypical positions. A military veteran still serving as an Army National Guard officer, she has blasted U.S. foreign policy and its bent to military intervention while also defending Trump and his cozy relationship with Russia. She used the Democratic presidential debate stage to aggressively attack California Sen. Kamala Harris. And she got into a caustic public back-and-forth with Hillary Clinton, the 2016 nominee.
Clinton seemingly started those volleys with an indirect rebuke, suggesting that Russia is using Gabbard in the 2020 campaign. Clinton produced no evidence that Moscow is directly backing Gabbard, but Russian state-owned media and a number of alt-right websites have promoted the , and the Russian Embassy has defended her on Twitter.
Gabbard retorted by calling Clinton 鈥渢he queen of warmongers ... and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long.鈥�
