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US-POLITICS-CONGRESS-TRUMP-IMPEACHMENT
10 mn signatures urging Trump impeachment delivered to Congress
WASHINGTON, May 10, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Two House Democrats on Thursday joined
activists at the US Capitol who presented Congress with signatures of 10
million people calling on lawmakers to begin impeachment proceedings against
President Donald Trump.
“We are holding in our hands 10 million reasons for being here today,”
progressive congressman Al Green said, as he and first-term congresswoman
Rashida Tlaib held up a flash drive.
Dozens of cardboard boxes featuring the signatures, gathered on petitions
from groups such as MoveOn and the annual Women’s March, were delivered to
Tlaib, who has introduced legislation that would direct the House Judiciary
Committee to begin proceedings to investigate whether Trump has committed
impeachable offenses.
“In the face of this time, this remarkably dark time in our country, this
to me is a moment of light,” she said.
Trump has proclaimed he was fully exonerated by special counsel Robert
Mueller’s recently released report on Russian election interference.
But some Democrats argue that the document lays out multiple occasions in
which the president may have obstructed justice, including Senator Elizabeth
Warren, a 2020 presidential candidate who has called for impeachment
proceedings.
Other senior Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have cautioned
against such a move, stressing it could deeply divide the nation of about 325
million people.
They warn it could backfire politically in the run up to the 2020 election,
especially with the Republican-controlled Senate likely to acquit the
president in the event of impeachment by the House of Representatives.
But Green framed the action as a constitutional necessity.
“I say moral imperative always trumps political expediency,” he said.
“You can’t say you have a constitutional crisis and then do nothing.”
The remark appeared to be a direct challenge to Pelosi herself, who said
Thursday that Trump’s refusal to comply with congressional inquiries into his
actions has brought the country to the brink.
“Trump and his administration’s decision to ignore the oath of office has
triggered a constitutional crisis,” Pelosi said, although she herself has
stopped short of calling for Trump’s ouster.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0838 hrs