Newton, MA City Hall to vote tonight on impeachment

Citizens will rally on Monday, July 10 at 7 p.m. at Newton City Hall (1000 Commonwealth Ave.) to call on the Newton City Council to pass a resolution calling for an impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump to be launched in the House of Representatives. The Council is scheduled to vote on the measure at its 7:45 meeting that same evening.

Newton would be the 14th U.S. city to do so! 

Ben Clements, former federal prosecutor, former Chief Legal Counsel to Deval Patrick, Board Chair of Free Speech For People, which is co-leading with RootsAction the Campaign to Impeach Donald Trump Now, noted that City Councilors take the same oath as members of Congress to support and defend the Constitution, and urged them to take that oath to heart when they vote on the resolution.  Clements added: “We’re already seeing the dangers of a president who believes that he is above the law. The long term damage to our constitutional democracy of Congress failing to hold accountable a president who willfully and repeatedly defies the law and the Constitution is incalculable.”  

Ruthanne Fuller, Councilor at Large and mayoral candidate, said, “An essential element of Newton’s Charter is the right of a group of citizens to express their concerns to their elected officials. Many of our constituents are deeply concerned about the President and his behavior both during the campaign and since his inauguration; so it’s incumbent on the Newton City Council to do its job and address this petition on the merits. I support this resolution because it demands that Congress judge the evidence on impeachment. All we are asking is that Congress do its job — a full and impartial investigation.”

City Councilor Emily Norton noted, “Gandhi said, ‘When the people act, the leaders will follow.’ We have a president who is brazenly disregarding the law and those with the authority to stop him are not doing so. It is altogether fitting and proper for cities such as Newton to call on the Congress to do their job and investigate the president for wrongdoing.”

Newton resident Leo Hannenberg, of the activist group RiseUpMA, said, “With the recent resignation of Walter M. Shaub Jr, the nation’s ethics chief, it’s even more imperative that Congress take action to uphold the constitution. We’re asking our local elected officials to help raise the alarm and restore the principle that nobody is above the law in the United States.” 

Clements will speak at the 7 p.m. rally. Other speakers will include former Newton mayor David B. Cohen, City Councilor and mayoral candidate Amy Mah Sangiolo, City Councilor City Councilor Ted Hess-Mahan, and leaders of several sponsoring local Indivisible groups. The resolution calls for an investigation into constitutional violations of the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments, or conflict of interest, clauses, and also into obstruction of justice allegations prompted by President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey. Currently, there are no congressional investigations looking into impeachable offenses.

The resolution was brought by citizen petition and will also be transmitted to Newton’s congressman, Rep. Joe Kennedy III. At an April town hall, Kennedy said he considered impeachment talk to be premature; recently, however, recently he signed on as one of nearly 200 Democrats to bring a lawsuit against President Trump for emoluments violations.  In other developments since June 7, when the Newton resolution was recommended to the full Council by a 5-1 vote of the Programs and Services Committee, at least 25 Democrats have also introduced a bill that could lead to impeachment via the 25th Amendment. Two Congressmen, Rep. Al Green (D-TX) and Brad Sherman (D-CA), are also circulating articles of impeachment.

Brookline, also in Kennedy’s district, passed their own resolution in Town Meeting on May 25 by a vote of 158-2.

Sponsoring organization Impeach Donald Trump Now recently delivered a petition to Congress calling for an impeachment investigation. As of today, July 10, 1,145,531 people had signed this petition.

Read the full press release here