Colorado Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper refused to rule out Monday a presidential run in 2020, telling CNN’s Erin Burnett “there’s going to be a lot of things on the table.”
“The key in the next couple of years is to figure out, with all the turmoil going on, how do we make sure we keep our focus to move the country forward, and figure out where are those lines that should not be crossed,” Hickenlooper said on “OutFront.”
The governor also had a message for President Donald Trump’s chief strategist, Steve Bannon, saying he would be wasting his time were he to attempt to dig up dirt on him in case he does run for president.
Hickenlooper claimed his 2016 memoir has “got every bad thing — and there’s a lot of them — that I’ve ever done. So I don’t think they have to worry too much about me coming at them from their blind side.”
Hickenlooper was re-elected as governor in 2014 and is limited to two terms. He met with Hillary Clinton last year during her search for a running mate before she ultimately decided on Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia.
Hickenlooper also weighed in on Jeanette Vizguerra, an undocumented immigrant and mother of four who is currently seeking refuge in a Denver church to avoid deportation.
Asked if law enforcement should go into the church to apprehend her, he said, “it is hard to imagine going into a church, in a sanctuary like that, and dragging somebody out.”
“This notion of going around, rounding people up and hauling them off in detention facilities, and then, without much due process, expelling them from the country, there are serious costs to our economy and the fabric of our community,” Hickenlooper added.
He said he hopes this could be the time that Congress comes together to find a compromise on immigration, an issue he says “has been haunting us for 20 years.”
