South Bend, Indiana mayor and 2020 presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg is cautioning Democrats against thinking an investigation will upend President Donald Trump’s administration.
Instead, he’s warning his fellow party members to recognize how they arrived at this point in the first place.
Reacting on MSNBC Sunday to Attorney General William Barr’s summary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe report, Buttigieg warned Democrats that “we’ve got to be paying attention to the kinds of conditions that made it possible for somebody like [Trump] to get here in the first place.”
“I would argue a figure like this president should never have been able to come within cheating distance of the Oval Office, and I fear that if we’re not paying attention to the causes that he’s a symptom of, then not only is it possible for him to succeed in 2020, but we could also find ourselves with another figure like him or even worse in the future,” he said.”
While Buttigieg has avoided speculating about Mueller’s findings, other presidential contenders, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), have demanded the full report be released.
Meanwhile, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) has vowed to take the matter to the Supreme Court if necessary, stating that he wouldn’t hesitate to use subpoena power to obtain any information being withheld.
Though Mueller is quoted in Barr’s summary as having said the investigation “did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” some lawmakers remain skeptical over what the entire report may reveal.
Despite Trump’s claim that he has been vindicated, Barr noted that although Mueller “does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”