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FRESNO, Calif. – Pete Buttigieg took a step back Monday with Democrats who pushed former Senator Al Franken to resign due to allegations of sexual misconduct, in an implied criticism of his main competitor, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
Asked at a MSNBC "Hardball" town hall by host Chris Matthews to find out if Franken should have been kicked out, Buttigieg said it was Franken's decision. The former comedian and senator from Minnesota resigned in 2007 under pressure from calls for his resignation from Democratic senators led largely by Gillibrand.
"I think it was his decision, but I think the way we forced him to meet more stringent standards than the GOP's is that their people were used against us," Buttigieg said. . Insisting on whether the Democrats should have pleaded for his dismissal, Buttigieg did not mention his name, but added: "I would not have applied that pressure at that time before 39, find out more. "
Years later, the quick accusation for Franken's ouster raised difficult questions about whether Democrats are too quick to judge in case of allegations of wrongdoing, especially after that. Another 2020 Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, was charged earlier this year with touching women.
Buttigieg's argument that Franken's resignation requests were premature also contradicts many of his other 2020 competitors who were in the Senate at the time. Although Gillibrand vocally directed the charge, the Sense. Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders, and Michael Bennet quickly followed suit by stating at the time that Franken should step down.
The MSNBC Town Hall in Fresno, California, was held while the Democrats were campaigning and the Congress continued to wonder whether their party should begin a process of impeachment of President Donald Trump in the House, a decision fraught with ramifications. political and moral.
Buttigieg said he would vote to dismiss Trump when he was a member of Congress and that the dismissal was put to a vote, adding that the president "deserved to be removed".
A member of the audience asked him if he supported the slow approach of Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, with regard to the impeachment procedure, which upset many liberal Democrats but that party leaders consider politically cautious.
Buttigieg has generally supported a cautious approach while asserting that, since he is not in the House, it would not be appropriate for him to say anything in Congress.
But though he was in Congress, Buttigieg said Monday, his vote on the dismissal would be a yes.
"Yes, I would," Buttigieg said in response to Matthews' follow-up question.
Nevertheless, the mayor of South Bend, in Indiana, argued that a rush to initiate impeachment proceedings while congressional Democrats still had more witnesses to question and that others Investigative measures to be taken might be misguided.
"It's better that it's an airtight process," Buttigieg told mayor. "There may be some strategic wisdom to follow this sequence, I'll leave that to Congress."
By leaving it to Congress to decide whether an impeachment proceeding should begin now, Buttigieg stops just in front of the positions taken by many of its 2020 rivals. imposition of the president should start immediately.
At the California State University-Fresno plenary session, Buttigieg also defended its support for a national gun registry, a position announced for the first time on its website dedicated to the campaign last month and which places it on the left of many other candidates for the Democratic presidency.
"If you have to have a license to get a car, it does not seem unreasonable that we do the same for deadly weapons," Buttigieg said. "Most Americans are fine with that."
However, pressed by Matthews on how he would record the hundreds of millions of weapons already in the United States, Buttigieg has expressed a new flexibility in his stance, suggesting he would be willing to accept a plan initially protected by weapons already sold. He also added that it would be up to states, not Washington, to register guns as long as they meet a national standard.
"Let's do at least one good thing for the future," said Buttigieg. "We can start at a later stage – at least if we do not do it at the point of sale, we can start."
In Fresno, a community in central California that is home to a higher percentage of Republicans compared to larger state cities, people began to show up at the auditorium around 8 am in the morning. Hope to see Buttigieg. A couple told NBC News that they had been driving from San Jose for three hours and had requested tickets.
Buttigieg's husband, Chasten Glezman, sat in the front row while the mayor of South Bend answered questions from an audience that often applauded the candidate with enthusiasm.
Mr. Buttigieg also addressed a host of other issues, stating that he was opposed to the right to work laws prohibiting the imposition of workers' obligation to adhere to a union, calling it "a bad idea" that would have contributed to Indiana's economic problems. And Buttigieg has said he is opposed to a national military project, but supports the extension of national service programs.
He expressed his opposition to the death penalty, as well as his opposition to letting criminals currently serving a prison sentence vote, as requested by Senator Bernie Sanders. Nevertheless, Buttigieg said he was in favor of restoring the voting rights as soon as they were imprisoned to complete their mandate.
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