Durbin: Too Early For Talk Of Impeachment
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), speaking to reporters outside his Springfield home on May 7. Brian Mackey/WUIS
Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin says talk of impeaching President Donald Trump is premature. That's at odds with positions taken last week by at least three of the Democrats running for governor in Illinois.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin says Democratic talk of impeaching President Donald Trump is premature.
Wealthy investor J.B. Pritzker, Chicago Alderman Ameya Pawar, and state Sen. Daniel Biss have all called for impeachment proceedings.
But Durbin — speaking to reporters at a farmers marketover the weekend in Springfield — says the newly-appointed special counsel should be allowed to conduct his investigation.
“I’m never using that word. I don’t want to use that word,” Durbin says. “We have an investigation. Let’s do the investigation. Do it professionally, fairly. Let's find out who was responsible for what. And before we reach any conclusions about guilt, let’s get to the bottom of the facts with a good prosecutor. I think Bob Muller is a good prosecutor.”
Durbin says he trusts former FBI director Robert Mueller to lead an independent investigation — and he'll stand by “whatever he comes up with.”
As a member of the Senate, Durbin would effectively be on the jury for an impeachment.
It wouldn’t be his first: In 1999, Durbin voted not to remove then-President Bill Clinton from office, ultimately finding him “not guilty” of perjury and obstruction of justice.