President Donald Trump’s remarks at the Helsinki summit on Monday have left Texans and others across the U.S. talking. Some have characterized the remarks as treasonous, though the president has tried to explain away his words as a misstatement.
Many Republicans here in Texas and elsewhere remain silent on the topic of the president’s comments doubting Russian interference in the 2016 election.
But in the race for the Senate seat currently held by Republican Ted Cruz, the affair seems to have sparked new confidence from his challenger, Democrat Beto O’Rourke.
The Houston Chronicle’s Kevin Diaz picked up on the sparks at an event on Tuesday, where O’Rourke and his friend, Republican Congressman Will Hurd were being honored for bipartisan civility.
“Beto O’Rourke was asked a question about impeachment by the Dallas Morning News, and so he answered the question,” Diaz says. “He went quite a bit farther than he ever has before.”
Diaz says O’Rourke has previously “played footsie” with the idea of impeachment of the president. On Tuesday, the El Paso Democrat said he would vote to impeach Trump if the issue came to a vote in the House.
Diaz says O’Rourke wasn’t looking to start a fight with Cruz.
“It was Cruz who saw an opportunity to frame his challenger as too liberal for Texas,” Diaz says “and went after him some hours later.”
Written by Kristen Cabrera.