On Sunday, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) equated President Donald Trump’s malfeasance with another disgraced president who was facing impeachment, Richard Nixon, but instead on a global scale.
Klobuchar told Meet the Press host Chuck Todd that behavior like what Trump is accused of is what motivated America’s Founding Fathers to include impeachment in the constitution.
“The first obligation is a constitutional one. We don’t have a choice,” Klobuchar said of moving ahead with articles of impeachment. The candidate continued, “This is something where the Founding Fathers themselves, James Madison said that the reason we needed impeachment provisions is that he feared that a president would betray the trust of the American people to a foreign power. That’s why this is proceeding. I see it simply as a global Watergate.”
WATCH: @amyklobuchar calls President Trump's actions "a global Watergate" scandal. #MTP #IfItsSunday
Nixon "delegated to some people … to get dirt on a political opponent. That's basically what this president has done on a global basis." pic.twitter.com/ZttsFkBirF
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) December 1, 2019
Klobuchar explained the comparison, saying, “Back then, you had a president in Richard Nixon who was paranoid and he delegated to some people to go break into the headquarters and get into a file cabinet to get dirt on a political opponent. That’s basically what this president has done on a global basis.”
The candidate also said if articles of impeachment were to reach the Senate that she can’t see herself not voting in favor of impeaching the president but added, “I am someone that looks at each count and makes a decision. I’ve said from the beginning, I see this as impeachable conduct.”