"Beginning impeachment proceedings is the only path forward,” Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker said Wednesday following special counsel Robert Mueller’s appearance at the Justice Department. | Win McNamee/Getty Images 2020 Elections Booker and Gillibrand move harder on impeaching Trump after Mueller's statement

Sens. Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand on Wednesday called for Congress to launch impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump, becoming the latest 2020 Democratic White House contenders to endorse the president’s removal from office.

Booker, of New Jersey, had previously demanded further probes by lawmakers into Trump’s conduct and Russian interference in the 2016 election, pressing for members of Congress to receive special counsel Robert Mueller’s underlying investigatory materials and public testimony.


And Gillibrand, of New York, had urged Democrats to hold more oversight hearings to win over voters not yet sold on the prospect of impeachment.

But Mueller’s remarks during an appearance at the Justice Department on Wednesday triggered the change in the candidates' stances, they tweeted.

“Robert Mueller’s statement makes it clear: Congress has a legal and moral obligation to begin impeachment proceedings immediately,” Booker wrote online, adding: “This Administration has continued to stonewall Congress’s oversight. Beginning impeachment proceedings is the only path forward.”

"It's time for Congress to begin impeachment hearings and follow the facts," Gillibrand wrote online three hours later. "Robert Mueller clearly expects Congress to exercise its constitutional authority and take steps that he could not. We can't let the president defy basic accountability measures built into our Constitution."



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Mueller said Wednesday he would prefer not to appear before Congress to discuss the findings of his investigation, and he reiterated the principal conclusions of his report — which uncovered insufficient evidence of a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin but did not absolve the president on claims that he obstructed justice.

“If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” Mueller said. “We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime.”

Several Democrats vying to take on Trump in 2020 interpreted Mueller’s prepared statement as essentially an impeachment referral to Congress.

“What is clear is that I think it's a fair inference from what we heard in that press conference that Bob Mueller was essentially referring impeachment to the United States Congress,” Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) told reporters while campaigning in South Carolina.

This Administration has continued to stonewall Congress’s oversight. Beginning impeachment proceedings is the only path forward. — Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) May 29, 2019

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) tweeted after Mueller’s remarks that impeachment hearings “should begin tomorrow,” writing online that “Mueller did his job. Now it’s time to do ours."

Julián Castro, the former San Antonio mayor and secretary of Housing and Urban Development, tweeted that lawmakers “should begin an impeachment inquiry” because Mueller “made clear this morning that his investigation now lays at the feet of Congress.”

Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke wrote online that “[t]here must be consequences, accountability, and justice” as a result of Mueller’s probe and “[t]he only way to ensure that is to begin impeachment proceedings.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) tweeted that if the House Judiciary Committee "deems it necessary," he "will support their decision to open an impeachment inquiry."

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) called on Mueller to testify before Congress, saying in a statement that the special counsel "is essentially referring his findings to the House for expanded investigation or impeachment hearings." Klobuchar added that impeachment proceedings "are one way to investigate and hold this administration accountable if the White House keeps stonewalling."

Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., told NBC News that Mueller’s remarks were “as close to an impeachment referral as you could get under the circumstances,” and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — the first of the leading 2020 candidates to call for Trump’s impeachment — tweeted : “Mueller’s statement makes clear what those who have read his report know: It is an impeachment referral, and it’s up to Congress to act. They should.”

A campaign spokesperson for former Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement that Congress should "continue to investigate" Trump, but warned that impeachment "may be unavoidable if this Administration continues on its path."