Democrats roll out 5 new articles of impeachment against Trump
House Democratic lawmakers announced a new impeachment push against President Trump on Wednesday, citing "definite violations" of the U.S. Constitution and "threats" to democracy.
Reps. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Al Green (D-TX) and Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) stood together in announcing five new Articles of Impeachment against Trump, presenting a unified front against the Republican president who the congressman say has violated the Constitution. The Articles of Impeachment were filed under obstruction of justice, violation of the foreign emoluments clause, violation of the domestic emoluments clause, undermining the federal judiciary and undermining the freedom of the press.
"We are calling upon the House to start impeachment hearings immediately," Rep. Cohen said. Cohen proceeded to criticize the Senate Judiciary Committee as being run like a "branch of the administration," and added that the group will hold briefings on these particular charges in the absence of hearings put forth by congressional committees.
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"If we failed to file these articles of impeachment we would be failing to do our jobs," Rep. Gutierrez said. Gutierrez noted many reasons he believes Trump is an "awful" person, citing his past of alleged sexual harassment and crass rhetoric aimed at women and minorities -- but said these are not reasons to impeach the 45th president.
Trump's firing James Comey as FBI head while the bureau was investigating potential Russian collusion with the Trump campaign in the 2016 election, Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian attorney during the campaign season and Trump's personally benefitting from the presidency during his White House tenure -- each of these storylines that have plagued the Trump administration were brought up as basis for the impeachment push.
"That is not right. That is not legal," Gutierrez said of these occurrences. "He should be impeached for it."
The group emphasized that they support special prosecutor Robert Mueller's independent investigation into potential collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, but said they are looking at violations of the Constitution while Mueller is examining criminal charges.
Cohen first added his name to the list of those backing an impeachment effort in the wake of the deadly Charlottesville protests, when Cohen says Trump shied away from "outright condemning hate, intolerance and bigotry."
