Start Impeachment Inquiry, Hickenlooper Says

In April, former Colorado governor and Democratic presidential candidate John Hickenlooper was careful to not call for outright impeachment of President Donald Trump.

Following the release of Robert Mueller's report into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, Hickenlooper told Colorado Matters that Democrats should wait to hear from Mueller and to see the unredacted version of the report.

Today, Hickenlooper is ready.

Thursday morning on CNN, Hickenlooper said it's time to begin an impeachment inquiry against the president.

He said listening to Mueller's statements to the media Wednesday convinced him.

"I think he laid the responsibility clearly at the doorstep of Congress," Hickenlooper said. "I do think we have an obligation to follow where the facts lead." 

Mueller did not exonerate Trump in his comments, which Hickenlooper said played into his decision. 

"He was very direct that this is the responsibility of Congress, this is their constitutional role," Hickenlooper said. "The way he laid it out there was pretty direct."

Hickenlooper also spoke about Donald Trump on Wednesday night on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show. He told Maddow the reason he's on the campaign trail is "because I think Donald Trump is fueling a national crisis of division. Trump is the symptom, not the disease."

Hickenlooper joins a long list of Democratic presidential candidates who are calling for the impeachment of Trump. Many made their clearest calls for impeachment yet in the hours after Mueller's statement Wednesday.

Fellow Coloradan and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Michael Bennet has stopped short of calling for impeachment proceedings to begin, but did tell Colorado Matters earlier in May that Trump seems to have committed "impeachable offenses."

Both men trail in the race for the party nomination in all national polls.