Per the El Paso Times, O'Rourke once expressed his belief that Trump colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election (Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report found that there was no collusion between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Russia, but that the Trump campaign had expected to benefit from Russian election meddling). He even reportedly said that Trump's defense of Russian leader Vladimir Putin over claims of interference was enough to move forward with impeachment proceedings. Elite Daily reached out to the White House for comment on the tweet, but did not hear back by the time of publication.

"To have the president of our country stand on a stage with Vladimir Putin, and defend Putin instead of the American people and this democracy that has withstood attacks for 242 years and counting should be cause for concern," he said.

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O'Rourke was much more direct in May 2019, when he straight up called for Trump's removal from office during a CNN town hall, despite any potential political risk.

“It’s not something that I take lightly. It’s an incredibly serious, sober decision that we should take as a country,” O’Rourke said, according to The Huffington Post. “If we do nothing because we are afraid of the polls or the politics or the repercussions in the next election, then we will have set a precedent for this country that in fact some people, because of the position of power and public trust that they hold, are above the law.”

In case the world didn't get his point, he echoed those comments again on May 29 after Special Counsel Robert Mueller elaborated on his findings in the report into Russian election meddling. In the report, Mueller wrote that he expressly did not exonerate Trump on obstruction of justice, noting that Justice Department policy prohibits the indictment of a sitting president. However, Mueller said in public remarks on May 29 that if investigators were confident the president had not committed a crime they would have said so, and added that charging the president with a crime was “not an option." Mueller then noted “the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing,” which seemed to refer to impeachment proceedings.

Shortly after, O'Rourke tweeted, "There must be consequences, accountability, and justice. The only way to ensure that is to begin impeachment proceedings." The White House did not immediately return Elite Daily's request for comment on the tweet.

At the time of this writing, Trump has not been formally accused of or charged with any crime, and no serious impeachment proceedings have been started.