--- title: Elizabeth Warren: Trump 'May Not Be Free Person' by 2020 description: Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said that President Donald Trump "may not even be a free person" by 2020. canonical: https://time.com/5526688/elizabeth-warren-donald-trump-jail-investigations/ author: Ciara Nugent article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-11T13:05:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:44:24.557Z article:section: Politics og:title: Elizabeth Warren Says Trump 'May Not Even Be a Free Person' by 2020 og:description: As she kicks off her presidential campaign in Iowa og:url: https://time.com/5526688/elizabeth-warren-donald-trump-jail-investigations/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28d2c8ab0cc1f239/698944ed457a52aad3d607a4/gettyimages-1128792010.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Senator Elizabeth Warren Holds Iowa Organizing Events For 2020 Presidential Race og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Elizabeth Warren Says Trump 'May Not Even Be a Free Person' by 2020 twitter:description: As she kicks off her presidential campaign in Iowa twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28d2c8ab0cc1f239/698944ed457a52aad3d607a4/gettyimages-1128792010.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Elizabeth Warren Says Trump 'May Not Even Be a Free Person' by 2020 > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=91fe2be9-0896-4bb7-894b-65c17b85c2fb&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Ciara Nugent](https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/)  ## Ciara Nugent Feb 11, 2019 1:05 PM UTC  Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks at a campaign rally at the University of Iowa on February 10, 2019 in Iowa City, Iowa. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks at a campaign rally at the University of Iowa on February 10, 2019 in Iowa City, Iowa. Scott Olson– Getty Images  by [Ciara Nugent](https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/)  ## Ciara Nugent Feb 11, 2019 1:05 PM UTC Kicking off her presidential campaign over the weekend, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said that President Donald Trump “may not even be a free person” by next year. “By the time we get to 2020, Donald Trump may not even be President,” the Democrat said during a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Sunday, CNN [reports](https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/10/politics/elizabeth-warren-donald-trump/index.html), one day after she formally [declared her candidacy](http://time.com/5525962/elizabeth-warren-2020-presidential-candidacy/) for the Democratic presidential nomination. “In fact, he may not even be a free person.” Asked [by reporters](https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/10/politics/elizabeth-warren-donald-trump/index.html) to expand on her comments, Warren said: “Well, come on. How many investigations are there now? It’s no longer just the Mueller investigation. They’re everywhere and these are serious investigations, so we’ll see what happens.” As well as special counsel Robert Mueller’s [ongoing investigation](http://time.com/5519446/trump-mueller-report-public/) into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, President Trump faces [a probe by the House intelligence committee](http://time.com/5523386/house-launches-new-investigation-trump-russia/) of his inaugural committee over illegal foreign donations, as well as [inquiries into practices](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mounting-legal-threats-surround-trump-as-nearly-every-organization-he-has-led-is-under-investigation/2018/12/15/4cfb4482-ffbb-11e8-862a-b6a6f3ce8199%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.970253f0d015) at the Trump Organization. Warren, who announced the formation of her exploratory committee on New Year’s Eve, had until this weekend largely avoided addressing the President by name in her campaign, despite [high-profile disputes with him](http://time.com/5425398/trump-warren-dna-bet/) on social media. She has also said that the Democrats’ 2020 presidential campaigns should not focus on unseating Trump. “Donald Trump is not the only problem we’ve got. Donald Trump is the symptom of a badly broken system,” she said. “So, our job as we start rolling into the next election is not just to respond on a daily basis. It’s to talk about what we understand is broken in this country, talk about what needs to be done to change it.” Warren joins[ a growing field of Democratic candidates](http://time.com/5460620/2020-presidential-candidates/) running for the 2020 nomination, including California Sen. Kamala Harris, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, among others. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5526688/elizabeth-warren-donald-trump-jail-investigations/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5526688/elizabeth-warren-donald-trump-jail-investigations/"},"headline":"Elizabeth Warren Says Trump 'May Not Even Be a Free Person' by 2020","datePublished":"2019-02-11T13:05:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T22:44:24.557Z","description":"As she kicks off her presidential campaign in Iowa","url":"https://time.com/5526688/elizabeth-warren-donald-trump-jail-investigations/","keywords":["2020 Election","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28d2c8ab0cc1f239/698944ed457a52aad3d607a4/gettyimages-1128792010.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ciara Nugent","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28d2c8ab0cc1f239/698944ed457a52aad3d607a4/gettyimages-1128792010.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senator Elizabeth Warren Holds Iowa Organizing Events For 2020 Presidential Race","caption":"Senator Elizabeth Warren Holds Iowa Organizing Events For 2020 Presidential Race","creditText":"Scott Olson– Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2020-election/","name":"2020 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5526688/elizabeth-warren-donald-trump-jail-investigations/","name":"Elizabeth Warren Says Trump 'May Not Even Be a Free Person' by 2020"}}]}] ```