Kamala Harris just became the second 2020 Democrat to call for Trump's impeachment

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Kamala Harris just became the second 2020 Democrat to call for Trump's impeachment

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NORTH LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 01: U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) speaks during a town hall meeting at Canyon Springs High School on March 1, 2019 in North Las Vegas, Nevada. Harris is campaigning for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
  • Sen. Kamala Harris announced on Monday night that she supports beginning impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump in the wake of special counsel Robert Mueller's final report in the Russia investigation.
  • Harris argued that Mueller's report makes it "very clear" that there's "a lot of good evidence pointing to obstruction of justice" committed by the president.
  • "I believe Congress should take the steps toward impeachment," Harris said during a Monday night CNN town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire. 
  • Harris is the second 2020 presidential candidate to call for impeachment proceedings against the president following the publication of a redacted version of Mueller's report. 
  • Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.

Sen. Kamala Harris announced on Monday night that she supports beginning impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump in the wake of special counsel Robert Mueller's final report in the Russia investigation.

Harris argued that Mueller's report makes it "very clear" that there's "a lot of good evidence pointing to obstruction of justice" committed by the president. 

"There is an investigation that has been conducted which has produced evidence that tells us that this president and his administration engaged in obstruction of justice. I believe Congress should take steps toward impeachment," Harris said during a Monday night CNN town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire. 

Harris is the second presidential candidate to call on Congress to move forward on impeachment, following Sen. Elizabeth Warren who did so last Friday, a day after Mueller's report was made public. 

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The special counsel did not find sufficient evidence to accuse the president of conspiring with the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 election. But Mueller did not come to a conclusion on whether Trump illegally obstructed justice in his handling of the investigation and explicitly cites Congress' authority to investigate and hold the president accountable in this situation.

But even with the call to being the impeachment process, Harris said she was a "realist" and any attempt to remove Trump from office will likely be unsuccessful because of the GOP-controlled Senate. Harris argued that Republican senators would likely not "weigh on the facts" but instead stick to a "partisan adherence to being protective of this president."

While the House votes to impeach a president, two-thirds of the Senate must vote to convict in order to remove the president from office.

Read more: Elizabeth Warren becomes the first senator - and first 2020 candidate - to call for impeaching Trump over the Mueller report

Democrats are torn over the politics of impeachment- and Democratic leadership is not calling to begin impeachment proceedings.

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"As the Speaker has said repeatedly, one step at a time. We're focused on getting the full unredacted version of the report and its underlying documents - as well as hearing from Mueller. The report raises more questions and concerns that we believe the American people deserve answers to," a spokeswoman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told NBC News last Friday.

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