Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D.) said Sunday he supported Democrats trying to impeach President Donald Trump, telling CNN he thought there were grounds to proceed on that front.
CNN host Jake Tapper noted Democratic voters strongly supported impeaching Trump if Democrats take back the House of Representatives in November, and he asked Patrick if he would support it.
"Yeah. If the grounds are there, then we should proceed, and I think there's a lot of basis to believe that the grounds are there," Patrick said. "But I don't think that's the first order of business."
Patrick urged Democrats to serve as a check on Trump, in addition to saying business wasn't getting done because of "extreme behavior" by a minority of House Republicans, an apparent reference to the conservative Freedom Caucus.
Patrick is a longtime ally of former President Barack Obama and has reportedly received his urging to run for the White House in 2020, but he said Sunday he was "not ready to be a candidate" yet.
Leading national Democrats like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) have cautioned against impeachment efforts against Trump, worrying such a move would galvanize Republicans. Left-wing billionaire Tom Steyer has waged a relentless campaign urging Democrats to impeach Trump, blasting the "Democratic establishment" for resisting his efforts.
Previous efforts to introduce articles of impeachment against Trump in Congress have failed to gain traction. In an interview published last month, Pelosi said the impeachment campaign was a "gift to the Republicans."
Of course, without Republican votes, Democrats are in the minority and powerless to impeach Trump at this point. They are seeking to regain the majority in the 2018 midterms for the first time since losing the House to the GOP in 2010.