Obama blasts Republicans for Clinton impeachment talk

President Barack Obama accused Republicans of fostering a “new normal” within their party in a blistering speech on Wednesday, blaming North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr and his colleagues for gridlock in Washington and for even suggesting that they might try to impeach Hillary Clinton.

Obama was in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to campaign on behalf of Clinton and Deborah Ross, the Democrat challenging Burr for his Senate seat in this crucial swing state. He started out his speech as he often does, advocating for Clinton and disparaging Donald Trump, but got heated as he addressed congressional Republicans, some of whom have vowed to block Clinton’s agenda, including her Supreme Court nominations, if she is elected president.


“Right now, because a lot of them think that Trump will lose, they’re already promising even more unprecedented dysfunction in Washington, which is pretty hard to do,” Obama said of Republicans, ticking off a list of statements — “years of investigations, years of hearings, more shutdowns, more obstruction.”

“You've got some Republicans in Congress who are already suggesting they will impeach Hillary,” Obama added, his voice rising. “She hasn't even been elected yet. And it doesn't matter what evidence they just — they'll find something. That's what they’re saying already.”

“How can — how does our democracy function like that?” he demanded.

Obama reserved some of his sharpest disdain for Burr, who is defending his Senate seat in an unexpectedly close race. Obama acknowledged that he had favorable personal impressions of Burr — “I used to work out with him in the gym in the Senate, he's a perfectly nice guy,” he said — but lambasted him for his positions throughout this campaign. He hit him for supporting Trump, for controversy over his recent private joke about putting a “bulls-eye” on Clinton, and for saying he would oppose Clinton’s nominees to the Court.

“Gridlock is what happens when Republican politicians, like Richard Burr, decide, not based on the merits, not based on what's good for their constituents, but based on political calculation, that they are going to oppose anything that is good for the country just because a Democrat proposes it,” Obama said.