On Saturday, May 18, Justin Amash became the first Republican member of Congress to call for impeachment proceedings against the president. Congressman Amash, the representative from Michigan’s 3rd district, laid out his thoughts on impeachment in a Twitter thread:

Here are my principal conclusions:
1. Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented Mueller’s report.
2. President Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct.
3. Partisanship has eroded our system of checks and balances.
4. Few members of Congress have read the report.

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 18, 2019

Congressman Amash joins a growing number of Members of Congress who have now spoken in favor of starting impeachment proceedings. They are also joined by over 900 former federal prosecutors who agree that, if Donald Trump were not president, he would have already been charged for committing numerous crimes.

The pressure is growing on Speaker Pelosi to take action – and it does appear that the tide is turning. Top Democrats of the House Judiciary Committee suggest they may call for impeachment inquiry, following Former White House Counsel Don McGahn refusal to testify in response to a Congressional subpoena.

Thank you to those brave Members of Congress who have called for an impeachment inquiry and to all the activists who continue to hold our leaders accountable. It is vital that Members of Congress uphold their oaths of office to defend our Constitution. We must start impeachment proceedings now against this lawless president.

“There are those who say political expediency dictates that we not impeach. I say moral imperative always trumps political expediency.” – Congressman Al Green

“When I look back at this moment in our country, this remarkable moment in our country, I want to look back and say that I did something…Right now, doing nothing is not an option, and ten million people just told us do something.” – Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib

On May 9, 2019, allied organizations delivered over ten million petition signatures to Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and Congressman Al Green, the largest online petition in history, to demand that Congress begin an impeachment investigation of the president for his repeated and egregious abuses of power and abuses of the public trust.

At a press conference for the petition delivery, representatives from key groups joined Congresswoman Tlaib and Congressman Green to speak in support of holding the president accountable to the law. Speakers included:

• John Bonifaz, President, Free Speech For People
• Heidi Hess, Working Assets/CREDO
• Linda Sarsour, Women’s March
• Jane Slusser, Need to Impeach
• Joseline Garcia, By the People
• Reggie Hubbard, MoveOn

Watch the full press conference below!

Click here to read John Bonifaz’s full remarks from the press conference.

Coverage for this historic event was featured in The Nation, Washington Times, Fox News, USA Today, Common Dreams, Bustle, The Hill, MSN, CBS News, NBC News, on OutFrontCNN, on MSNBC, and Newsweek.

Scroll down to view photos from the event!

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow, Thursday, May 9, Free Speech For People is coming together with allied groups from across the country to deliver what is likely the largest online petition in history. We will be delivering ten million petition signatures in support of an impeachment investigation of the president to Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and the other Members of Congress who have joined her in calling for an impeachment inquiry.

Free Speech For People is proud to join groups like MoveOn, CREDO Mobile, Need to Impeach, Women’s March, By the People, Change.org, and Democracy for America in our call for Congress to begin impeachment proceedings NOW.

From the moment Trump took office, Donald Trump has proven he is a direct and serious threat to our Republic. Free Speech For People has been on the front line in sounding the alarm about Trump’s multiple impeachment offenses. Now Congress must stand up to this lawless president and begin impeachment investigations against him.

Our press conference will be held at 1:30pm EST tomorrow at the Capitol. If you are in the DC area, join us there! Click here for more details and to RSVP for the event!

If you do not live in DC but still want to participate, be sure to watch the livestream of our press conference here so you don’t miss this historic moment!

See you tomorrow!

This morning, Congressman Al Green announced plans to introduce articles of impeachment against the President.

From Congressman Green’s speech:

I will bring articles of impeachment against the President of the United States of America for obstructing a lawful investigation. And I do so, Mr. Speaker, because I will not put party above people, I will not put politics above principle, and I will not put this president above the law…

We cannot allow the paralysis of analysis to thwart the obstruction of justice that must be brought before Congress…

And I’m going to keep my word today. If this House does not bring these articles of impeachment before this august body, each member has the authority and opportunity to do so. I will not allow history to show that this Congress did not take a vote on the impeachment of a reckless, ruthless, lawless president.

Watch the full announcement below. And, to join Congressman Green in holding the President accountable to the law, take action here. 

In a recent opinion piece in the New York Times, Elizabeth Drew, a veteran reporter who covered Watergate, lays out a clear argument for why the House should begin impeachment investigations of President Donald Trump.

She states:

The founders put the impeachment clause in the Constitution to allow Congress to hold accountable, between elections, a president who’s abusing power. They specified that “high crimes and misdemeanors” are not necessarily crimes on the books but arise from the singular power of the presidency.

Ms. Drew further clarifies misconceptions about impeachment, drawing from history and the circumstances of the impeachment investigation of President Nixon:

Many people are getting their history and their definition of impeachment wrong by asserting that what forced Nixon to resign was the revelation in August 1974, very late in the process, of a recording of his trying to obstruct justice. This leads them to the erroneous conclusion that it’s essential to find a “smoking gun” to impeach a president.

When, in fact, the House Judiciary Committee had already approved three articles of impeachment against Nixon by the time the tapes were discovered. There is no need to find a “smoking gun” to begin an impeachment investigation. We have already established eleven grounds for impeachment, including obstruction of justice and using the office of the presidency to prosecute political adversaries – two of the same grounds upon which Nixon was implicated.

The supposed political risks of starting an impeachment investigation do not outweigh the numerous abuses perpetrated by Trump. To hold off on the impeachment fight would only condone the president’s ongoing constitutional violations.

As Ms. Drew asserts:

It’s hard to imagine [the founding fathers would] put political convenience on the same footing as the security of the Constitution…

The Democrats may succeed in avoiding a tumultuous, divisive fight over impeachment now. But if they choose to ignore clear abuses of the Constitution, they’ll also turn a blind eye to the precedent they’re setting and how feckless they’ll look in history.

To read the full article in the New York Times, click here.