Fuck yeah!
Texas Democrat Beto O'Rourke, who is challenging Sen. Ted Cruz, said Tuesday that he President Donald Trump's performance at a summit with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin merits impeachment.
And he blasted Cruz for failing to denounce Trump, who shocked U.S. intelligence and law enforcement by taking the former KGB spy chief's word that Russia did not meddle in the 2016 election.
Last week, the Justice Department issued indictments against a dozen Russian military intelligence officers for doing just that.
"Standing on stage in another country with the leader of another country who wants to and has sought to undermine this country, and to side with him over the United States -- if I were asked to vote on this I would vote to impeach the president," O'Rourke, a three-term congressman from El Paso, said in response to a question from The Dallas Morning News. "Impeachment, much like an indictment, shows that there is enough there for the case to proceed and at this point there is certainly enough there for the case to proceed."
And Beto was quick to praise his colleague, Rep. Will Hurd’s (R. TX) sharp criticism and Cruz’s weakness:
"As a former CIA officer and a Congressman on the House Intelligence Committee, I can affirmatively say there is nothing about agreeing with a thug like Putin that puts America First," Hurd wrote in a series of Monday tweets. "The President is wrong. Russia interfered in the 2016 election and seeks to undermine our democracy"
At Tuesday's awards ceremony, both O'Rourke and one of the hosts of the event, former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, a fellow Republican, praised Hurd's comments.
After the event, O'Rourke compared Hurd's reaction that of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, his Republican opponent in the fall. A day earlier, Cruz had told CNN, “I think we need to be acting vigorously to prevent Russian aggression. And I think it's a mistake to be apologizing for Vladimir Putin.”
On Tuesday, Cruz spoke more at length to reporters, calling Trump's press conference "a mistake" but repeatedly comparing Trump's actions to what he called President Barack Obama's failure to prevent Russia's invasion of Crimea in 2014. Cruz sought to cast Democrats' reaction to Helsinki as hypocritical and dismissed their allegations of treason as overblown.
"Treason is a grave crime punishable by death under U.S. law," Cruz said. "And it wasn't treason when Barack Obama refused to stand up to our enemies... and it wasn't treason when President Trump stood at a podium and failed to condemn Russian aggression and interference in our election."
When asked by reporters if Cruz had spoken out strongly enough about Trump's actions, O'Rourke said; "No. This is a moment that you put your party, that you put your prospects on the next election, you put your career behind you and you put your country in front of you."
"This is a moment at which each of us must stand up and be counted, and I heard my colleague, Congressman Hurd, loud and clear yesterday," he added. "I did not hear from our junior senator at all about the president's conduct."
He went on to echo Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain's use of the word "disgraceful" in describing the president's behavior.
"This is a moment that calls for unity and a non-partisan response to a fundamental challenge to American security, to the integrity of our democracy and in our ability to move forward," O'Rourke added.
Damn straight. Of course, Cruz is going to go apeshit over this so we have to make sure Beto is ready to hit back hard. Click here to donate and get involved with Beto’s campaign.