2 top Dem senators give boost to impeachment effort

Patty Murray doesn’t make waves. But the low-key senator’s endorsement of an impeachment inquiry is doing exactly that in the Senate Democratic Caucus.

The No. 3 Senate Democrat threw her considerable political weight behind the impeachment effort Sunday afternoon, joining Washington state’s House Democrats in a surprise statement. And the No. 4 Senate Democrat, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, followed suit on Monday.

“The Mueller report is extremely serious. Obstruction of justice is extremely serious. And it’s worthy of an inquiry. Nobody is above the law. The president’s not above the law,” Stabenow said in an interview.

Neither Murray nor Stabenow said she would vote to convict Trump should the House impeach the president, and it’s highly unlikely the Republican-controlled Senate would remove the president. Home-state colleagues Gary Peters of Michigan and Maria Cantwell of Washington have not endorsed an impeachment inquiry.

Still, Murray and Stabenow’s backing of a House impeachment inquiry gives considerable political cover to Democrats weighing whether to publicly support an impeachment inquiry.

Senate Democrats have lagged behind their House counterparts on calling to begin impeachment proceedings. Including Murray and Stabenow, just 12 of the 47 Senate Democratic Caucus members have endorsed those proceedings compared to nearly half the 235 House Democrats, according to a Monday review of the caucus’ position. Six of those senators are running for president.

But Murray and Stabenow became the highest-ranking Democrats in the country to call for an impeachment inquiry, a move that shows increasing acceptance in the top rungs of Washington for Democrats to keep their political fire trained on Trump. Murray said she made the decision over the weekend and aides said she gave Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer a heads-up.

“It’s not just about this president, but it’s about what bar we have for presidents in the future about obstruction of justice. And secondly, I am deeply concerned … that Russia did interfere in our elections. This president has flouted that,” Murray told reporters on Monday. “The House should begin proceedings. We’ll see where that leads.”

Murray is close to Schumer and ran the party’s campaign arm for two cycles, a sign that the politics of impeachment have rapidly flipped for Democrats. She makes headlines so rarely that her words calling for formal impeachment proceedings carry added heft. Confidants compared her backing an impeachment inquiry to her relatively lonely votes against the Iraq War.

Stabenow is also a close Schumer ally and broke the news to Politico as she walked to his office for a leadership meeting. She said she’d made her mind up earlier this month, long before Murray publicly released her statement.

“If you’d asked me that two weeks ago, I’d have said the same thing,” Stabenow said. “I have felt for some time, I think it’s a responsibility that we have an inquiry.”

Neither senator has immediate political backlashes to worry about. Stabenow just handily won reelection in a state that Trump narrowly won, while Murray isn’t up for reelection until 2022 and won her previous race by 18 percentage points.

But it is unclear whether other Democratic leaders will rush to join them. Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin said he was unaware of Murray’s position. Schumer said he was “not commenting” on the matter.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconisn, the Democratic Caucus secretary, stopped short of endorsing an impeachment inquiry.

“The stonewalling that we’re seeing, we need to get to the bottom of that. We need the truth, we need secure elections. And I support the House going to the courts right now,” she said.

Until recently, Senate Democrats have largely ceded the issue of impeachment to the House. Many do not want to get crosswise with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has steadfastly refused to open a formal inquiry, or to push Schumer into an awkward position.

“My view as a former House member: The Constitution calls for the House to lead the charge on something like this. Not for the Senate. Let them go forward and do what they think is right. We’ll take the ball from there,” said Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), who doesn’t support an impeachment inquiry.

But former special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony last week seems to have changed that. Stabenow, Murray and Ed Markey of Massachusetts have since come out for an impeachment inquiry, joining a torrent of House members on the verge of garnering a majority of the Democratic majority. Markey said late last week that “Mueller’s testimony and the president’s obstruction of the congressional investigation compel us to immediately begin a formal impeachment inquiry.”

They join Democratic Sens. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Patrick Leahy of Vermont and six senators who are presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Cory Booker of New Jersey, and independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Warren, Klobuchar and Sanders all serve on Schumer’s leadership team.

Michael Bennet of Colorado is the only Senate Democrat running for president who has not endorsed an impeachment inquiry.

And many Senate Democrats seem to be doing everything they can to avoid endorsing that inquiry. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, one of Trump’s sharpest critics, has declined to call for impeachment.

“There need to be continued hearings — call them what you like — impeachment hearings, oversight hearings, investigation hearing. What’s necessary is the facts,” Blumenthal said.

“The president repeatedly shows that he is unfit for the office that he holds,” retiring Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) said. “Moving forward, all options should be on the table to hold the president accountable.”

But more members of the caucus are slowly begining to speak with more specificity on impeachment. If the House votes to impeach Trump, it will fall on Senate Democrats to quickly unify and put up their 47 votes to convict the president in order to pressure vulnerable Senate Republicans.

And as the House reaches a tipping point on the impeachment question, Senate Democrats say they understand it’s something they need to confront.

“Nobody should turn their head away on this,” Stabenow said.

Sarah Ferris and Heather Caygle contributed to this report.