Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) disparagingly referred to President Donald Trump as a “bastard” on Sunday evening as she was warning the Democratic Party to remain focused on the 2020 election despite the ongoing impeachment proceedings.
“You know, we have accomplished a lot, but we can’t just rest on our laurels. We know we have a lot to do for 2020,” Titus told the crowd while speaking at the Nevada State Democrats’ First in the Nation event. “You have heard me say how many times that this is the most important election of your lifetime. Well this time I really, really, really, mean it because it is.”
“The heart and soul of our nation are on the ballot and it’s going to be up to you all,” she continued. “That’s why our caucus is so important. It’s the first step to getting this con artist out of the White House.”
“You know, frankly, I think the House is going to do it and I’d like to impeach the bastard right now,” Titus added amid cheers from the audience. “But you know — but wait we’re not sure what the Senate’s going to do, so it’s up to us to be ready to take him out in November.”
The Nevada lawmaker had reportedly used the same demeaning language earlier in the day while she was at a campaign event for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), according to Las Vegas’ local CBS 8 News Now. However, while speaking to reporters after the Sanders event she later said that she “kind of got caught up in the moment” and the the insult was “just the first term that came to the top of my head.”
Titus announced her support for impeaching the president as early as July contending that he “repeatedly broken the law to protect his own interests.” At the time she claimed that he lied to “law enforcement officials who are investigating the Russian attack on our democracy — and ordering his staff to do the same,” she noted are “serious crimes.” There has been no evidence to corroborate those claims.
Democratic leadership revealed in September that they would be moving forward with an impeachment inquiry after a whistleblower reportedly accused Trump of asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden for using his position as vice president to remove a Ukrainian prosecutor who was looking into his son’s business dealings.
The reports were not confirmed at the time of the announcement, and it was not until a day later that the White House released a transcript of Trump’s exchange with Zelensky. After the transcript was made public, many have argued that it fails to show the direct quid pro quo agreement initially alleged.
Democrats, however, have vowed to move forward with impeachment hearings, and have subsequently followed through on that pledge. In October, the House voted on a resolution establishing the process for the investigation into the president. The measure passed largely along party lines, 232-196, with only two Democrats defecting on the vote. Rather than the initial quid pro quo claim, Democrats have shifted to accusing the president of bribery.