Megan Rapinoe is no longer representing just Team USA — she’s joining Team Warren.
The soccer icon and social activist on Friday endorsed Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren for president, adding that she believes President Donald Trump should be impeached.
Warren’s progressive platform offers “a different vision of America than what we have right now,” Rapinoe told CNN’s Don Lemon on “CNN Tonight” as she called for “really big, bold, brave progressive policies.”
What’s more important than beating Trump, Rapinoe argued, is the “need to show people that there’s a better way forward” on issues such as health care, child care and opioid treatment.
“I just feel like I trust her,” Rapinoe said.
Rapinoe had announced her support for Warren earlier Friday in a video posted to Twitter. The Massachusetts senator told Rapinoe in the video that being named “Sportsperson of the Year” by Sports Illustrated was “well-deserved, because you get out there and you both lead your team on the field, but you also help lead America off the field, and that’s really important.”
Rapinoe said she would love to help Warren’s team in any way she can, “so consider me Team Warren.”
“I think we got this, Megan,” Warren said.
“Well, we have a little saying on the National Team that we like to say, I don’t know if you can cuss on here, but it’s LFG. So, let’s do this,” Rapinoe said.
Warren laughed and said, “Let’s do this. All right, Megan, you and me, LFG.”
Rapinoe told Lemon that Trump “obviously” should be impeached, though she wasn’t sure “if we’ll get there.” She praised Democrats for having “done a really amazing job of trying to stick to the story and really give the truth to the American people.”
“It’s very clear — he uses the office of the presidency to personally enrich himself, his family and the people around him,” she said of Trump. “He abuses power, he cuts people out of the communication, he doesn’t give all the information — so for me it’s impeachment for sure.”
Rapinoe, who led the Women’s National Team to victory as a co-captain in the World Cup in July, also won the Ballon d’Or award last week, given annually to the world’s best soccer players.
Along with her soccer stardom, she’s emerged as a fierce advocate for women’s rights, the fight for equal pay and other social justice issues.
She is one of several players who sued the United States Soccer Federation alleging gender discrimination. The federal class-action lawsuit against the soccer federation alleges the men’s national team earns more than the women’s team, even though the women play more games and win more matches.
In 2016, she was among the first white professional athletes to show solidarity with professional football player Colin Kaepernick when media first began reporting on his kneeling during the national anthem to protest the police shootings of African American men and other social injustices faced by black people in the United States.
The soccer star has been frequently critical of Trump, and made headlines earlier this year when she said she would not go to the White House if her team won the World Cup.
