Sen. Warren: Trump ‘may not even be a free person’

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA >> Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., told voters Sunday that President Donald Trump might be unable to finish his term, firing back at him for the first time since his re-election campaign attacked her rollout.

“By the time we get to 2020, Donald Trump may not be president,” Warren told an audience here. “In fact, he may not even be a free person.”

Warren had not previously hinted that the scandals surrounding the president could keep him from seeking a second term. On her previous trip to Iowa, she rarely mentioned Trump by name.

But her campaign, which has faced more direct attacks from Trump than other Democratic candidates, appears to see the question about Trump’s own viability as way to stop engaging with everything he says.

Asked to expand on her comments later in the day, Warren quipped: “Come on, how many investigations are there now? It’s no longer just the Mueller investigation; they’re everywhere. And these are serious investigations.”

Warren also sought to put her comments in a broader context, explaining that she doesn’t often mention Trump at events, because her campaign is more than just ousting the Republican president.

“Things were broken long before Donald Trump got here,” Warren said, speaking to reporters after a rally that drew about 500 people in Iowa City. “He made a whole lot of things a whole lot worse.” But she said simply saying “‘not Trump,’ then we’re not going to make the changes that this country really needs.”

Warren formally kicked off her bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination before a crowd of about 3,500 supporters in Massachusetts on Saturday.