The Mueller Report was both an impeachment referral and roadmap for Congress to begin an impeachment investigation of the president. In his report, former Special Counsel Robert Mueller presented evidence that Trump repeatedly obstructed justice and concluded that the Trump campaign took advantage of unlawful Russian assistance in the election.
The play was written by Robert Schenkkan, a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning screenwriter and playwright. The celebrity cast includes Annette Bening, Kevin Kline, John Lithgow, Frederick Weller, Ben McKenzie, Michael Shannon, Noah Emmerich, Justin Long, Jason Alexander, Gina Gershon, Wilson Cruz, Joel Grey, Alyssa Milano, Kyra Sedgwick, Alfre Woodard, Piper Perabo, Zachary Quinto, and Aidan Quinn, with Sigourney Weaver, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Mark Hamill.
Watch the powerful performance below and be sure to watch until the end of the play for a message on how we must respond to the content of the Mueller Report.
On Saturday, June 15th, more than 13,000 Americans gathered at 142 events across the country, calling on Congress to begin an impeachment inquiry against President Trump. Free Speech For People was proud to partner with MoveOn and By the People for this historic event, the largest national mobilization for impeachment to date.
Free Speech for People President John Bonifaz addressed more than 100 people in Northampton’s Pulaski Park, saying, “We refuse to be silent. We refuse to walk away. We will rise to demand that members of Congress carry out their Constitutional duty and start an impeachment inquiry of this President.”
Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, who chairs the House Committee on Rules, also addressed the crowd in Northampton: “I’ve seen enough. I’ve seen the Mueller report, this administration is not complying with requests. If we turn a blind eye to him ignoring Congress, we set a terrible precedent.”
Meanwhile in Boston, Free Speech For People’s Board Chair Ben Clements told protesters on the Common, “This is how autocracies take root. This is how democracies die…Our country cannot afford to wait. We will not sit idly by while a corrupt, lawless, racist, misogynist, homophobic, xenophobic, bigoted, unfit President tramples on our Constitution and our people.”
Sixty-seven members of Congress have now voiced public support for an impeachment inquiry to date, and thirteen have become co-sponsors of a House resolution to start such an inquiry, introduced by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Rep. Al Green (D-TX) in March. Many were in attendance at events around the country on Saturday, including Rep. Tlaib in Detroit, Rep. Green in Houston, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) in Portland, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) in New York City, and Rep. Madeleine Dean, Rep Mary Gay Scanlon, and Rep. Brendan Boyle in Philadelphia. A recent Reuters poll found that 45 percent of Americans support impeachment, compared to 42 percent opposed. The percentage in favor of impeachment is significantly higher than it was when Congress began an impeachment inquiry into Richard Nixon.
MoveOn and By the People will hold an organizing call on next steps for the impeachment movement on Tuesday, June 18th at 8:30 PM EST. To RSVP, visit www.impeachmentguide.com. Representatives Al Green, Jamie Raskin, and Rashida Tlaib will all be featured speakers on the call.
We hope you can join us next Saturday, June 15, for a national day of action to demand an impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump. This is your opportunity to get involved directly in the fight to hold the president accountable to the law!
As more members of Congress join the call for an impeachment inquiry, it is clear that we have the power to appeal to our elected officials and to help turn the tide on impeachment. On the national day of action, individuals across the country will come together for family-friendly, public gatherings to demonstrate to their representatives that we, the people demand action.
The momentum is continuing to build – on this day of action, we hope to achieve the largest number of individual gatherings in support of impeachment. There are currently over 78 events throughout the country!
Free Speech For People joined more than two dozen groups in issuing an open letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, demanding that she take action and move to start an impeachment investigation of Donald Trump.
The letter addresses Speaker Pelosi’s reluctance to use her power to hold Trump accountable for his numerous constitutional violations:
As Speaker of the House, you have the power to ensure Congress exercises its constitutional obligation to hold this president accountable, but instead of using your power, you are giving us political excuses for why you shouldn’t. Instead of leading, you and your colleagues have asked us to wait – wait for the Mueller report, wait for the unredacted Mueller report, wait for Mueller’s testimony about the Mueller report, wait for more investigations, wait for bipartisan consensus, wait for impeachment to poll better, wait for the 2020 election.
But we can’t wait any longer. While we wait, Trump’s policies continue to harm those from the most marginalized and vulnerable populations:
Waiting is a privilege. But it is not a privilege available to the families separated by his deportation force or his Muslim ban, the asylum seekers languishing in Mexico, the people threatened by his embrace of white supremacy, the LGBTQ people whose rights he is taking away, the women whose bodies he is trying to control or the communities threatened by his denial of the climate crisis.
The letter explains that there is “still a chance to turn this around.” Speaker Pelosi can leverage her position to be the leader we need at this critical moment in history and to do what is right:
The American people deserve a leader who is willing to bravely use power to rein in the Trump administration and defend our communities. You have stated that we are facing a constitutional crisis. But the remedy for such a constitutional crisis is not traditional congressional oversight…The framers placed the impeachment power in the Constitution precisely for the purpose of confronting a lawless president like Donald Trump.
Read the full letter and add your comment explaining why we can no longer wait for an impeachment investigation. Join us in urging Speaker Pelosi to act, here.
On Wednesday, May 29, Special Counsel Robert Mueller made his first public remarks since the end of his two-year investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.
In his remarks, the special counsel reaffirmed the conclusions of his report, stating that his “report is [his] testimony.” However, Mueller did not exonerate the President. Rather, he stated, “If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.”
While Mueller referred to the Justice Department tradition that prohibits indicting a sitting president, he made it clear that Congress has the means and the responsibility to act. He commented that the Constitution “requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing.”
The process to which Mueller refers is an impeachment investigation – and Members of Congress are starting to get that message loud and clear. A number of Members of Congress, who had previously stopped short of supporting impeachment proceedings, have since spoken out to demand an impeachment inquiry be launched by the House Judiciary Committee. And those who had already made the call are now renewing their support:
Robert Mueller’s statement makes it clear: Congress has a legal and moral obligation to begin impeachment proceedings immediately.
It’s time for Congress to begin impeachment hearings and follow the facts. Robert Mueller clearly expects Congress to exercise its constitutional authority and take steps that he could not. We can’t let the president defy basic accountability measures built into our Constitution.
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) May 29, 2019
Mueller leaves no doubt:
1) He didn’t exonerate the president because there is evidence he committed crimes.
2) Justice Department policy prevented him from charging the president with any crimes.
3) The Constitution leaves it up to Congress to act—and that’s impeachment.
Regardless of whether special counsel Robert Mueller provides further testimony, we have more than enough evidence that Trump has committed numerous Constitutional violations. There is a clear path forward for Congress and it is to start impeachment investigations.