Swalwell calls Trump a "bad kid in the White House," stops short of backing impeachment
Referencing his parenting of two young children, California Rep. Eric Swalwell, one of the nearly two dozen Democrats seeking the party's presidential nomination, called President Trump a "really bad kid," but stopped short of supporting impeachment proceedings to remove him from office.
Asked if he would support an effort by House Democrats to impeach the president, the San Francisco area lawmaker demurred and said there should be "consequences" for Mr. Trump for his behavior detailed in special counsel Robert Mueller's report, as well as the White House's push back against multiple investigations by Democratic-controlled congressional committees.
"We have to start taking this president seriously and speaking the only language they know, which is force and consequence," Swalwell said on "Face the Nation" Sunday. "I'm a father of a 2-year-old and a 6-month-old. We're going through the terrible twos. When my son misbehaves, we take a toy away."
"We have a really bad kid at the White House, and unless we start showing that there are consequences for their actions, he's only going to get worse," he added. "And the next kid, the next president, is going to look at what we did now and judge their actions based on whether there were consequences or not."
Swalwell did not specify which "consequences" the president should face from Democrats in Congress.
Echoing comments he made last week, the White House hopeful urged fellow House Democrats to draft articles of impeachment against Attorney General William Barr, who Swalwell accused of misrepresenting Mueller's findings.
"I think you have to move this obstructor out of the way, and I'm recommending that we impeach Attorney General Barr so that we can get the information we need to protect our country," he added.