Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren said: “Every single person in the House and the Senate should take a vote on whether what Donald Trump did to obstruct justice was an impeachable offense.“ Congress ‘Case not closed, buddy’: Warren goes all in on Trump impeachment The 2020 hopeful is making the case for booting the president more forcefully than any of her Democratic rivals.

When Elizabeth Warren arrived at work Tuesday, she had no intention of reading damning excerpts of the Mueller report from the Senate floor while demanding President Donald Trump’s impeachment.

The Senate majority leader made her do it, she said.


“I felt a responsibility to go to the floor to say: ‘Case not closed, buddy,’” Warren said in an interview, referring to Mitch McConnell’s “case closed” declaration that it was time for Congress to move on from the Russia investigation.

Warren has been making the case for impeachment more forcefully in the past few weeks than any of her 2020 Democratic rivals the past few weeks — a move that could help the Massachusetts senator rally party activists itching to take on Trump. The push, along with Warren’s rollout of a menu of policy proposals, has coincided with an uptick in her poll figures and a spate of positive news coverage.

Yet most Democrats in Congress — and even some of her primary opponents — think Warren’s play is polarizing and risky. They’re wary of undercutting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who opposes a rush to impeach, or allowing their campaigns to be defined by a potential spectacle that a relatively small slice of the electorate is demanding.

COUNTDOWN TO 2020 The race for 2020 starts now. Stay in the know. Follow our presidential election coverage. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

And most of her competitors are reluctant to join her.

“Impeachment should be left on the table. But I do believe what Speaker Pelosi is doing is smart,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who also is competing for the Democratic nomination. Voters aren't tuned in to all "the facts and the details," she added, "so I think if you want to bring the American people along with you, you really need to have these hearings” before initiating impeachment proceedings.

Warren said she doesn’t intend to press Pelosi privately on the matter. But she shot back at Democrats who argue it’s better to take things slow, pursue contempt charges against administration officials or possibly file a lawsuit for documents.

“I have tried to let the House make its own determination and I’ve made clear how I see this,” she said. “Every single person in the House and the Senate should take a vote on whether what Donald Trump did to obstruct justice was an impeachable offense. And then they ought to have to live with that vote for the rest of their lives.”

Warren’s extensive list of policy proposals — on everything from free college to opioids to military housing — leaves little room for criticism that she’s focused on impeachment to the neglect of kitchen table issues. She doesn't shy away from impeachment when asked by voters, but she also has not made it part of her regular stump speech.

Other Democratic senators acknowledged that Warren’s impeachment stance is probably good politics in a crowded primary with an ascendant left wing. But she's taken a lonely position with her aggressive comments.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) has been more cautious than Warren has been on the subject of impeachment — she has called for the House to "take the steps toward impeachment” — and doesn’t plan to make a similar speech on the Senate floor. Harris said in an interview that impeaching Trump is on the minds of Democratic voters, but “not an immediate priority,” when compared with health care and the economy.

Joe Biden has said impeachment is best left as a recourse if the administration continues to block House investigations. And Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said he worries that impeachment talk "works to Trump's advantage."

Many Democrats agree that pursuing impeachment could play into Trump’s hands. But that’s a problem for the general election; the imperative now is to “win the primary,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from the key early state of New Hampshire. Shaheen thinks it doesn't "make sense" to launch impeachment proceedings but she acknowledged that it "does seem to be a popular position with the Democratic base.”

Warren's call for impeachment could also be aimed at juicing small-dollar donations, which she needs badly after swearing off high-dollar private fundraisers. She raised less than Pete Buttigieg in the first three months of the year and is spending big on an army of staffers in early states.

But to hear Warren tell it, her impeachment crusade is not an elaborately hatched strategy.

“Mueller served up the evidence on a silver platter to Congress. Congress is now the only body that can act to prevent a president from obstructing justice and walking away with no penalty imposed,” she said. “I had never intended this to be any part of my presidential campaign. I’m running on how to make this government work.”

Asked about the reluctance of others to join her, she shook her head as she walked briskly through the Capitol: “I just don’t get it.”

Warren insists there’s no link between her campaign and impeachment. But after stumbling out of the gate over her handling of her DNA test, she's clearly found her footing in recent weeks. The Massachusetts senator followed up her initial call for impeachment in early April with a flurry of events across the country that were well received.

Elizabeth Warren's call for impeachment could be aimed at juicing small-dollar donations – but she claims it was not part of a larger strategy. | Ethan Miller/Getty Images

In an email to supporters Tuesday, Warren encouraged people to add their names and contact information to her petition calling for impeachment. Anyone other than Trump “would be arrested and put in jail," she wrote, echoing her comments on the Senate floor.

But privately, Democrats say the impeachment drive against President Bill Clinton in the late '90s was a debacle for the GOP. Pursuing an effort that Senate Republicans will never support is a mistake, they say.

And publicly, most of them are with Pelosi.

It’s “so politically charged that I frankly think we are better off in the next 18 months focusing on trying to pass bills that actually solve the problems that average Americans are concerned about and use the 2020 election as the accountability mechanism for the misdeeds of the president,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.).

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) took to the floor right after Warren’s speech and praised her — to an extent.

“Of course, I’m not with her on the last line, the impeachment,” he said in an interview. Durbin acknowledged, however, that Warren "certainly has distinguished herself” in the Democratic Party with her outspokenness on the issue.

Warren said she did little to prepare for her 40-minute speech, and at times it was clear she was speaking off the cuff.

But it wasn’t a difficult speech to give, she said.

"The hard part was keeping the speech relatively short,” Warren said. “I could [have been] standing there three hours later.”

Alex Thompson contributed to this report.