President Trump is Not “Above the Law”: John Bonifaz to Democracy Now!

On Tuesday, May 22, Free Speech For People President John Bonifaz appeared on Democracy Now! to discuss the latest updates in the campaign to launch impeachment proceedings against President Trump.

In the interview, John describes Trump’s many impeachable actions and describes how we cannot normalize these impeachable offenses. As he explains:

… If we do not act with respect to this president and the magnitude of impeachable offenses that grows by the day, then we are setting ourselves up for a very dangerous precedent where we treat a president of the United States as being above the law. And that is a road down toward authoritarianism that we cannot take

Watch the video below, and read the full transcript of the interview here.

One Year Anniversary of the Comey Firing

One year ago today, Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in response to his investigation of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. The firing of Comey was an obstruction of justice, and therefore an impeachable offense. In response to Comey’s firing, on May 15, 2017, Congressman Al Green introduced Articles of Impeachment, calling on Congress to begin impeachment proceedings. Watch the video of Congressman Green introducing Articles of Impeachment on the House floor and read more about it at our blog here.

One year later we are fighting to hold Donald Trump accountable and to preserve our democracy. Following the firing of Comey, we added Trump’s obstruction of justice to a long list of impeachable offenses.

As Special Counsel Robert Mueller continues his investigation into potential coordination, it is crucial that the Department of Justice is shielded from White House influence. But we also cannot wait for Mueller’s investigation. We must act now.

We must continue this push for impeachment to preserve our democracy. Sign the petition to impeach Donald Trump Now.

Watch now: Interview by the Young Turks with Senior Counsel Shanna Cleveland on Recent Victory to Divest Trump SoHo

Shanna Cleveland, Senior Counsel at Free Speech For People, recently talked with the Young Turks for a two-part interview about the campaign to divest public pension funds from Trump-owned businesses and the emergence of support for Russia in modern-day white supremacy.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Donald Trump Ordered Mueller to be Fired in June

The New York Times recently reported that Trump attempted to fire Robert Mueller in June of last year. Mueller is currently leading the investigation into the administration’s potential involvement with Russia. The Times reports that Donald McGahn, White House counsel, refused to follow through with the dismissal, and instead threatened to resign rather than comply with Trump’s order.

As detailed by the New York Times:

President Trump ordered the firing last June of Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation, according to four people told of the matter, but ultimately backed down after the White House counsel threatened to resign rather than carry out the directive.

The West Wing confrontation marks the first time Mr. Trump is known to have tried to fire the special counsel. Mr. Mueller learned about the episode in recent months as his investigators interviewed current and former senior White House officials in his inquiry into whether the president obstructed justice.

This report represents yet another case of Trump’s obstruction of justice. It is a powerful reminder that we do not need to wait on the results of Mueller’s investigation to demand that Congress act. The list of Trump’s impeachable offenses is more than enough to move forward with impeachment proceedings.

Read the full article in the New York Times here.

Impeachment Vote Called by Congressman Al Green held on January 19, 2018

Last Friday, January 19, 2018, following Congressman Al Green’s introduction of articles of impeachment, 66 Members of Congress voted to move forward with impeachment proceedings against President Trump. This is the second vote in two months. Last month, on December 6, 2017, Congressman Green called the first vote on articles of impeachment against the President, and 58 Members of Congress voted to advance the impeachment process. This newest vote saw an additional 12 members of Congress on record voting in favor of advancing impeachment proceedings. (Of the 58 Members who voted to move forward on December 6, two Members were absent from this January 19 vote, and two Members voted not to move forward with these new articles of impeachment.)

Congressman Green spoke on the House floor regarding the impeachment resolution, in which he outlined charges against the President, including those related to Trump’s recent bigoted and racist statements regarding immigrants and countries of origin.

This newest vote shows us that support for impeachment of President Trump is growing and the movement to regain our democracy is gaining momentum. Take a moment to thank those Members of Congress who voted to hold our leaders accountable. A list of how Members of Congress voted is available here: Final Roll Call. And share news of the vote to help spread the word about our movement for impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump.