President Trump’s former 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton warned Democrats against immediately starting to talk about impeachment after the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

Clinton wrote in the opinion piece in the Washington Post: “Our election was corrupted, our democracy assaulted, our sovereignty and security violated.”

But she said that lawmakers shouldn’t just jump to impeachment but should rather hold “substantive hearings” that build on the Mueller report and look to “fill in its gaps.”

She said that Watergate was a good example of how Congress should handle an investigation like Mueller’s 22-month inquiry.

“Then, as now, there was an investigation that found evidence of corruption and a coverup. It was complemented by public hearings conducted by a Senate select committee,” she wrote, adding that “similar hearings with Mueller, former White House counsel Donald McGahn and other key witnesses could do the same today.”

Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016, acknowledged that loss could make it easy for readers to dismiss her opinions but added that her experience — Clinton served as senator from New York and as secretary of state under President Barack Obama, in addition to her stint as first lady — gives her a platform to speak.

“Obviously, this is personal for me, and some may say that I’m not the right messenger. But my perspective is not just that of a former candidate and target of the Russian plot,” Clinton wrote, emphasizing that as secretary of state she had a front-row seat to matters with Russia.

Clinton said the 448-page Mueller report is not a means to instant impeachment but rather a guide for Congress.

“Mueller’s report leaves many unanswered questions — in part because of Attorney General William P. Barr’s redactions and obfuscations. But it is a road map,” Clinton said. “It’s up to members of both parties to see where that road map leads — to the eventual filing of articles of impeachment, or not.”

“We have to get this right. The Mueller report isn’t just a reckoning about our recent history; it’s a warning about the future,” she said.

Clinton appeared Tuesday at a Time 100 event and said that Mueller’s report wasn’t the end of the Russia story, but said Congress should get the full, unredacted report. The former presidential candidate also tweeted Wednesday warning about the potential for future Russian interference in the upcoming 2020 elections.

“This is not just about a reckoning with the recent past. This is about what is going on today and threats to our next election, to our defense as a nation,” she tweeted.


House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., issued a subpoena last week for the full, unredacted Mueller report.