Carly Fiorina calls for impeaching Trump — but doesn’t rule out voting for him in 2020
“I think it is vital that he be impeached,” the former Republican presidential candidate told CNN.
Former Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina is backing the impeachment of President Donald Trump, calling the president’s behavior “destructive to the republic,” though she’s not ruling out voting for him in 2020.
“I think it is vital that he be impeached,” the former Hewlett-Packard CEO said in an hour-long interview on CNN’s “Boss Files with Poppy Harlow.”
When asked if the president should be removed from office, Fiorina said, “this close to an election, I don’t know.”
Fiorina went on to condemn the president’s open attacks on Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council official and decorated Army officer who testified to House investigators about Trump’s attempts to pressure Ukraine to open investigations into his own political rivals.
“Some of this conduct, like publicly berating a decorated war veteran who shows up in response to a lawfully issued subpoena of Congress, I think that conduct is not just unbecoming, I think it’s destructive to our republic,” Fiorina said.
Fiorina herself is no stranger to attacks from the president. In a 2015 interview, Trump mocked the CEO’s appearance, saying, “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?”
Despite their public scuffles, Fiorina, who was rumored to have been considered for a cabinet position after losing the 2016 Republican nomination, said she did vote for Trump in the general election, citing her disapproval of Democratic nominee and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Since casting her vote, she said she’s been “bitterly disappointed” by the president, but sidestepped questions of whether she would support Trump in 2020.
“It depends who the Democrats put up,” she said, refusing to rule out a vote for Trump.
Fiorina said that she did agree with the president on his strong economic policies, but said, “I do think that the systematic tearing down of people, institutions, political opponents, will have long-lasting damage if it goes on for much longer.
“I think there is a reason why women, people of color, young people, don’t feel affinity for the Republican Party. It’s because the brand, the way business has been conducted, sends a message: we don’t value you, and we don’t respect you,” she continued.
She did not rule out running for president in the future after her failed 2016 bid, but expressed skepticism about the state of the Republican Party and about Trump’s loyalists.
“Right now, (the Republican Party) seems to be all about pledging fealty to Donald Trump no matter what,” she criticized. “And I’m just not in that place.”