cnn.com
As suggested by the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, President Trump may be reluctant to voluntarily vacate the White House if the Democrats fail to win by a large margin in 2020.
She stated that the president of the United States could decide to contest the results and refuse to give up power if her party’s candidate only won by a narrow margin.
Pelosi told the New York Times that “we have to inoculate against that, we have to be prepared for that,” without actually revealing any legal or political strategies that they may have for dealing with the potential scenario.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi does not think Trump will leave the White House unless he’s soundly defeated in 2020 (Doug Mills/AP)
She also referred to similar fears that she had leading up to the 2018 mid-terms. “If we win by four seats, by a thousand votes each, he’s not going to respect the election,” she said, making reference to Donald Trump.
Pelosi added: “He would poison the public mind. He would challenge each of the races; he would say you can’t seat these people.”
The newspaper reported that she has been sharing her concerns recently about this potential scenario with her political colleagues, stating that Trump could dispute the election results.
Photo by J Scott Applewhite/AP/REX/Shutterstock (10002898g)
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California heads into the Democratic Caucus leadership elections unopposed following an effort by a contingent working against her becoming the speaker of the House when her party takes the majority in the new Congress in January, at the Capitol in Washington
Pelosi House Leadership, Washington, USA – 28 Nov 2018
Believing that the Democrats should “own the centre left, own the mainstream” during the 2020 campaign, she still remains resistant to following through with launching the proceedings for impeachment against President Trump, regarding the consistent obstruction of justice put forward from the Mueller report.
“Impeachment is never off the table, but should we start there? I don’t agree with that,” she said on Friday. Pelosi did note however, that obstructing Congress was one of the articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon.
Beto O’Rourke, a democratic presidential hopeful, said he believed “there’s enough evidence now for the House of Representatives to move forward with impeachment”. Fellow 2020 candidates Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris have already called for the president to be impeached.
