BLAZ: DON HAS TO GO
MAYOR FLIP-FLOPS, CALLS FOR TRUMP IMPEACH
Mayor de Blasio had an extraordinary change of heart Friday and declared it’s time to impeach President Trump for “treason” — just days after complaining there’s “too much talk about impeachment” among Democrats.
Hizzoner, feeling feisty since he made the cut for the first Democratic presidential debate, justified his dramatic impeachment flip-flop by pointing at Trump’s recent admission that he would welcome foreign interference in the 2020 election if it helped him win.
“Inviting hostile foreign powers to interfere in American elections isn’t just idiotic or unpatriotic, it’s actually treason. Talk about the ‘Art of the Deal,’” de Blasio tweeted, poking fun at Trump’s 1987 best seller. “We can’t wait any longer. It’s time to #ImpeachTrumpNow.”
De Blasio’s pro-impeachment missive was a far cry from comments he made in an interview on June 6.
“I think there’s too much talk about impeachment,” the mayor told Fox News host Bret Baier then. “I think there should be a lot more talk about what we can do for working people.”
Acknowledging his aboutface, de Blasio added to the Friday tweet: “Democrats should focus on issues that matter to working families and beating Trump in 2020. That hasn’t changed.”
An official from Trump’s 2020 campaign ridiculed de Blasio over his dithering impeachment stance and questioned the mayor’s relevance as a presidential candidate.
“If Bill de Blasio falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” the official told the Daily News.
De Blasio has struggled to cross the 1% threshold in most Democratic primary polls.
The mayor’s 180 on impeachment came on the heels of Trump suggesting in a televised interview with ABC News that there’s noth
ing wrong about taking damaging information on political opponents from foreign adversaries, such as China and Russia.
“They have information, I think I’d take it,” Trump said.
The president even said he wouldn’t necessarily report such attempts at election interference to the FBI, even though his own FBI director, Christopher Wray, says any candidate should absolutely do so, especially considering the damage Russia caused with its pro-Trump efforts in the 2016 election.
Trump’s shocking comments prompted widespread backlash, and de Blasio wasn’t the only Democratic candidate to jump on the impeachment train as a result.
“After hearing the president say, flat-out, that he would accept a foreign power’s offer of dirt on an electoral competitor and probably not inform the FBI of such an effort, I believe that Congress must pursue impeachment,” California congressman and presidential wannabe Eric Swalwell tweeted Thursday, joining a pro-impeachment chorus in the House comprising more than 60 lawmakers.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) regularly condemns Trump’s “criminal coverup” of his alleged obstruction of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Nonetheless, the speaker has refused to pull the trigger on an impeachment inquiry, arguing she’d rather see Trump defeated at the ballot box in 2020 since the GOP-controlled Senate would all but certainly reject any impeachment articles passed by the House.
Impeachment has become a litmus test of sorts for many Democratic candidates.
In addition to de Blasio and Swalwell, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, California Sen. Kamala Harris, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke have all come out in favor of launching an impeachment inquiry.
Democratic front-runner Joe Biden notably has not backed an impeachment inquiry yet.
Trump’s stunning remarks on election interference also prompted an unusual statement from Federal Election Commission chairwoman Ellen Weintraub.
“Let me make something 100% clear to the American public and anyone running for public office: It is illegal for any person to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election. This is not a novel concept.”