Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar held nothing back as she offered her opinion on the seriousness of the impeachment inquiry involving President Donald Trump ‘s dealings with the Ukrainian president, comparing the situation to former President Richard Nixon’s scandal by calling it a “global Watergate.”
According to Politico , the 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful spoke with MSNBC’s Chuck Todd on Sunday’s Meet the Press. In the interview, she invoked the Founding Fathers, insisting that Trump’s alleged actions are exactly why they included a means to remove a president from office, if necessary.
“This is something where the Founding Fathers themselves, James Madison, said the reasons we needed impeachment provisions was that he feared that a president would betray the trust of the American people to a foreign power,” Klobuchar said.
“That is why this is proceeding,” Klobuchar said of Trump’s impeachment investigation. “I see it simply as a global Watergate.”
Nixon resigned before he could be impeached for his administration’s involvement in a cover-up after a break-in at the Democratic headquarters. The scandal famously known as Watergate is similar, according to Klobuchar, to the current president’s Ukraine controversy.
“That is basically what this president has done on a global basis,” Klobuchar said.
House Democrats launched the impeachment inquiry after an anonymous whistleblower filed a complaint alleging that Trump used his position of power on a July 25 phone call to initiate a “quid pro quo” exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksky. Democrats accused the president of purposely withholding a large U.S. military aid package in exchange for the Ukrainian government launching an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.
That type of investigation, Democrats claim, would give the president political ammunition he could use against Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Klobuchar’s “Watergate” comparison echoes a similar opinion from House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren. Lofgren implied that Trump’s Ukraine scandal is worse because she said at least Nixon’s scandal “didn’t involve…other foreign nations.”
Klobuchar, who is currently on the presidential campaign trail, would have to take a temporary break from the action in the case of Trump’s impeachment inquiry reaching the Senate. The Minnesota senator would be required to act as a juror and weigh the decision whether or not Trump’s actions are grounds for removal from the White House.
She reassured Todd that her duty as a senator comes first and that she has ample backup on the campaign front to provide her the necessary time it would take to complete the jury trial portion, should the impeachment inquiry reach that level.
“I have many people out there for me if I can’t leave for a few weeks,” Klobuchar said. “That includes my husband and daughter, who are excellent campaigners. But it also includes all of our endorsers.”
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , even though some political analysts have expressed concerns that impeachment might help Trump’s 2020 election chances, Klobuchar told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos last week that she doesn’t believe that will be the case.
According to the Real Clear Politics polling average, Klobuchar currently sits in 8th place with 2.2 percent of support, behind former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who only recently entered the 2020 presidential race.