In the wake of the Ukraine scandal, in which Donald Trump has been accused of attempting to bribe Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden, Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke called for the president to resign from his position, The Hill reports.
According to O’Rourke, who spoke during an appearance at the 2019 Texas Tribune Festival, the “best possible path” for the United States would be Trump’s resignation. He claims that the move would allow the country to “heal” and “come back together” to begin working on a new agenda.
“None of it possible while he remains in power,” O’Rourke added.
O’Rourke also shrugged off speculation that he might exit the presidential race due to lagging poll numbers.
“I’m in this thing until the very end,” he said. “I’m in all the way.”
Earlier this week, as the scandal just began to play out, the former Texas Representative used a CNN appearance to compare the scandal to Watergate.
“If you looked at the polling on impeachment around Nixon at this point in the investigation, it wasn’t the most popular thing in the country. Yet, with the vantage of hindsight, we know that it was absolutely the right thing to do, and President Nixon did the right thing and resigned before it moved to a trial in the Senate.”
O’Rourke is currently in 7th place in the polls behind businessman Andrew Yang and ahead of former Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary Julian Castro, who recently jumped ahead of New Jersey Senator Cory Booker. Per The New Republic , O’Rourke has been pressured to drop out of the presidential race and run for Senate, where some believe he would be able to make a bigger difference than his time taking a shot at the presidency.
According to O’Rourke, a Senate run is out of the question.
“I’m running for president. I’m running for this country,” he said to MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell on Thursday.
“I would like you to do us a favor though” https://t.co/Vh81LBn8ny pic.twitter.com/tdvJSDUYxU
— Beto O’Rourke (@BetoORourke) September 25, 2019
The 47-year-old is set to take the October debate stage alongside 11 other candidates. Despite a large number of individuals on stage, the DNC recently revealed that the debate will not be split into two nights, which caused criticism from some that believe it will drag down the quality of the discussion.
Alongside O’Rourke on the October stage are Castro, Cooker, Biden, Yang, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, and Tom Steyer.
O’Rourke currently needs 3 percent or higher in three more DNC-approved polls to make the November debate stage.
