In a fiery speech on the House floor, Rep. Al Green called for President Trump’s impeachment on Wednesday morning.
“It’s a position of conscience for me,” the Texas Democrat said. “This is about what I believe. And this is where I stand. I will not be moved. The president must be impeached.”
Noting that no one – including the president – is above the law, he called on the American people to let their members of Congress know where they stood. He also said members of Congress had to “make their own decisions” on where they stood about the issue.
Green became the first Democrat in Congress to start calling for impeachment earlier this week, prior to news breaking that the president reportedly disclosed classified information to Russian officials – and before President Trump asked James Comey to drop the FBI probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, at least according to memos from the now-fired FBI director.
But Green ramped up his call on Wednesday, amid an onslaught of criticism from lawmakers about the president’s recent actions.
“This is not to be taken lightly,” he said. “I think this is one of the highest callings that a member of Congress can address.”
While many in the Democratic party, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, are still hesitant to start talking about such proceedings, Green wasn’t the only Democrat this week throwing the term around this week.
Rep. Maxine Waters of California said during Tuesday’s Center for American Progress convention that Democrats shouldn’t be afraid to use the word.
I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to call for the impeachment of the president of the United States of America for obstruction of justice. I do not do this for political purposes, Mr. Speaker. I do this because I believe in the great ideals that this country stands for. Liberty and justice for all. The notion that we should have government of the people by the people for the people.
I do it because, Mr. Speaker, there is a belief in this country that no one is above the law and that includes the president of the United States of America. Mr. Speaker, our democracy is at risk. Mr. Speaker, this offense has occurred before our very eyes. It is perspicuous. It is easy to understand. Mr. Speaker, we are talking about a president who fired the FBI director who was investigating the president for his connections to Russian involvement in the president’s election. Mr. Speaker, this is not about the president firing the FBI director because he was investigating someone else, it’s because the FBI director was investigating the president himself.
And after firing the director he went on to let us know that he considered the investigation when he fired him. And then he tweeted language that would be intimidation or a warning, an admonition, very strong to say the very least. Mr. Speaker, we cannot allow this to go unchecked. The president is not above the law. It is time for the American people to weigh in.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen after today, when all of the questions have been raised about him… but I think this is going to put us a little bit further on our way to what I have been calling for for so long, and that is impeachment,” Water said, per a Buzzfeed report.
Additionally, Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan became on Wednesday the first Republican to raise impeachment publicly. He told reporters that if the allegations in the Comey memo were true, those would be grounds for impeachment.
Still, many Democrats are wary.
“It’s not something I believe people should wish for,” said Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, which is conducting its own probe into Russian interference in the presidential election. “We should undertake our constitutional obligation to take the evidence, follow the evidence. And if there’s another constitutional obligation that follows from that, there is.. They’re allegations that were in a newspaper report, but they’re also allegations that are easily subject to proof.”
Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said, he wanted to get information and wasn’t “there yet” on impeachment.
“Will it lead to impeachment? I don’t know, but one thing is for sure this is a critical moment,” he said.
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