Billionaire Tom Steyer will not seek presidency but backs moves to impeach Trump

Billionaire investor and Democratic activist Tom Steyer has said he will not run for the White House in 2020 and will instead focus on calling for President Donald Trump’s impeachment.

Mr Steyer, who has spent 50 million US dollars on his Need To Impeach campaign and announced plans to spend 40 million dollars more this year, said at an event in Des Moines, Iowa that “the impeachment question has reached an inflection point”, given that Democrats have taken majority control of the House.

“I said last year that I’m willing to do whatever I can to protect our country from this reckless, lawless and dangerous president,” Mr Steyer said.

“Therefore, I will be dedicating 100% of my time, effort and resources working for Mr Trump’s impeachment and removal from office.

“I am not running for president at this time.”

Mr Steyer said his 40 million dollar commitment for 2019 was designed to pressure the Democratic-controlled House to begin impeachment hearings and to persuade the party’s presidential contenders to support impeachment on their platform.

The decision not to run comes as a surprise since Mr Steyer had been travelling the country promoting the political platform he released after November’s midterm elections.

Although Mr Steyer opted against a presidential run, the constellation of political organisations that he has built is likely to have an impact on the presidential race and on key congressional races across the country.

Several prominent Democrats have also declined to run in 2020, including former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick and Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti.