2020 Daily Trail Markers: Dems tell NAACP it's time to impeach
While former special counsel Robert Mueller was on Capitol Hill testifying about his high-profile report, some 2020 Democratic presidential candidates were 500 miles away in Detroit, voicing their belief that the report holds enough to begin impeachment proceedings against President Trump.
CBS News Political Unit Broadcast Associate Aaron Navarro says Sens. Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren all pointed to obstruction of justice as the basis for impeachment, and Warren ramped it up a bit by saying the Senate should vote on it, regardless of who's in the majority. "Whether it would pass Senate or not…this is a moment of history, and every single person of Congress should be called on to vote, and to live with that for the rest of their lives," she said at the NAACP convention.
"I think there are impeachable offenses and I think the president should be tried for it," Biden said outside an event in Dearborn, Michigan, reports CBS News Campaign Reporter Bo Erickson. Biden also sent mixed messages on his takeaways from the testimony, as he said Mueller laid out "plenty of reasons" why the president could be charged after he leaves office.
"I understood that he was pretty clear saying that – at least I think it was 4 or 5 occasions the president engaged in activity that he could be tried after he left office," he said. But later on, when asked if a Biden administration would prosecute Mr. Trump, he called that hypothetical "premature" and added he's "not one of these guys—'lock him up!' or 'send him home!' or that type of thing." Read the full remarks here.
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg pointed to the Republican-controlled Senate as a reason for pause on impeachment, and said he's instead focused on beating Trump at the ballot box -- a mission Booker echoed as well during his speech. "What we ultimately must be prepared to do should Congress fail -- remember the power of the people is greater than the people in power. And we need to be ready to beat Donald Trump soundly in the 2020 elections and that's why I'm running for president," Booker said.
CBS' latest count has 15 of the 25 candidates explicitly calling for impeachment proceedings.
FROM THE CANDIDATES
BIDEN V. BOOKER: A week before the second Democratic debate, both former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Cory Booker are back to bashing each other—just as they did in the lead up to the first Democratic debate in June. Here's a timeline of the latest back-and-forth from CBS News Campaign Reporters Jack Turman & Bo Erickson:
Tuesday AM: Biden releases his 10-page comprehensive criminal justice reform plan with several points addressing legislation he once supported in the "tough on crime" era of the 90s.
Tuesday PM: Booker apparently subtweets Biden with "It's not enough to tell us what you're going to do for our communities, show us what you've done for the last 40 years."
Wednesday AM: Booker doubles-down and tells reporters at NAACP convention: "I'm disappointed that it's taken Joe Biden years and years until he was running for president to actually say he made a mistake… so I'm disappointed it's taken him so long to own up to that and now he's unveiled his crime bill." WATCH
Wednesday PM: Biden defends his record and says "Cory knows that's not true." He then said Booker "objected to federal interference" when the Obama Administration's Justice Deaprtment intervened with Newark's police department practices. "If he wants to go back and talk about records, I'm happy to do that," Biden added. WATCH
Our take: Days before the first debate, Biden was calling for Booker to apologize for his criticism over remarks related to working with segregationists in Congress. After Sen. Kamala Harris' confrontation over the remarks at the debate, Biden is now confronted again with racially-tinged criticism—and is no longer asking for an apology. Instead, his campaign is projecting a possible offense strategy on the debate stage next week when he, Booker and Harris will all be on the same stage.
GOV. JOHN DELANEY: Before joining Iowa's RAGBRAI bicycle ride, on Wednesday, former Rep. John Delaney said in an interview with CBS News Campaign Reporter Adam Brewster that if Democrats nominate "a candidate who's one of those candidates running on upheaval of the entire U.S. economy, and with a fundamental kind of anti-business, anti-private sector platform, I think we lose to Donald Trump and I think we lose big." Delaney, who has long criticized Medicare for All plans that eliminate private insurance, will be on the debate stage with two proponents of that policy next week: Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Delaney said "when you create anxiety with the American people about their private health insurance, how do you actually think you're going to beat Donald Trump?"
Delaney again denied an Axios report from last week that some senior staffers asked him to get out of the race by mid-August, saying it was a "great mystery" where the report came from. When asked about how a candidate can continue if they're not on the debate stage in September, Delaney said "I think candidates realistically have to be on the third or the fourth [stage]. They may not have to be on the third, but they have to be on the fourth." Delaney went on to say it creates "more headwinds" if a candidate isn't on those debate stages.
BETO O'ROURKE: CBS News Campaign Reporter Tim Perry was the first to report former Rep. Beto O'Rourke's Education Equity plan, which was released ahead of 2020 candidate's appearance at the NAACP National Convention today in Detroit. The plan includes a $500 billion Permanent Fund for Equity and Excellence as an effort to close the funding gap between predominately white and non-white school districts. The plan also lays out details to end racial disparities in school disciplinary measures, provide student debt relief for educators and invest in the teacher pipeline to increase diversity within the teaching profession.
GOV. BILL WELD: Weld, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination against Mr. Trump, took the stage with 2020 Democrats in Detroit on Wednesday. He was the last speaker to address the NAACP Convention. "I'm already running against Donald Trump in the Republican primaries," said Weld to audience applause. He called the President a "raging racist." When asked whether he had watched the Mueller hearings, Weld answered, "Well, I almost didn't need to watch Bob this morning. Bob was my deputy in the Justice Department. I've known him forever. I read every word of the Mueller report," something he normally mentions in interviews along the trail.
STATELY COVERAGE
DOWN SOUTH: Former special counsel Robert Mueller concluded his congressional testimony this afternoon, in what one South Carolina voter described as an "underwhelming" showcase of the investigation findings. Throughout the day, GOP leadership in the Palmetto state made it clear that their big takeaway from today's hearings was "no collusion."
"The $40 Million Mueller investigation proved what we already knew to be true: No Obstruction. No Collusion," tweeted the SCGOP. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham went a step further and tweeted that it was "dangerous and ridiculous" for Mueller to have changed the job of a prosecutor from proving someone "guilty beyond a reasonable doubt" to "not being able to exonerate someone accused of a crime." On the state level, CBS News Campaign Reporter LaCrai Mitchell asked S.C. state Rep. Marvin Pendarvis whether Mueller's testimony would impact his constituents in Charleston and Dorchester counties. Pendarvis maintained that while today's hearings probably wouldn't affect voters' day-to-day lives, fair elections in our country impact all Americans—his constituents included. "As an overarching principle it's important to make sure we have fair elections," said Pendarvis. "We want to show no one is above the law and we have to protect fairness in our democratic process."
ON THE HILL
IN THE HOUSE: Michigan Republican Rep. Paul Mitchell announced he will not seek re-election in 2020, due to wanting more family time and exhaustion with today's political rhetoric. Mitchell was one of the first Republican Congress members to split with President Donald Trump after his racist Tweets aimed at the "squad," four progressive congresswomen of color.
About a day after Trump's initial Tweets, Mitchell said in a Tweet to the President, "We must be better than comments like these. I share the political frustrations with some members of the other party, but these comments are beneath leaders." In his emotive remarks on the House floor Wednesday he said, "It appears to me that rhetoric overwhelms policy, and politics consumes much of the oxygen in this city, the time has come to make a difference for my family - to focus on my time and energy upon them - their needs and goals." Mitchell won this eastern region of Michigan in 2018 by more than 25 points and Trump won by more than 30 points in 2016 – signs that Republicans aren't too worried about keeping the open seat red. National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Michael McAdams told CBS News Political Unit Broadcast Associate Aaron Navarro "this a solidly Republican seat and we will keep it that way."
