Senator Warner Implies that Trump Just Committed an Impeachable Offense in Helsinki

Today’s press conference in Helsinki, Finland between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has already set off alarm bells for many within Congress, even including a few Republicans like Paul Ryan and Ben Sasse. The strongest words, however, have come from Senator Mark Warner, who also happens to be the Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. Moments ago Warner issued the following statement:

“For the President of the United States to stand next to Vladimir Putin — who personally ordered one of the largest state-sponsored cyber-attacks in our history — and side with Putin over America’s military and intelligence leaders is a breach of his duty to defend our country against its adversaries. “If the President cannot defend the United States and its interests in public, how can we trust him to stand up for our country in private?”

This statement suggests that Warner now believes that there is ample justification for impeaching President Trump, as a ‘breach of his duty to defend our country against its adversaries’ would clearly be grounds for impeachment.

While Warner has not directly called for impeaching President Trump, this is about as close as one can get without actually saying the word ‘impeachment’. Warner has, in the past, been highly critical of the President, suggesting that additional evidence of his campaign’s collusion with the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 elections is likely coming in the near future.