Democratic congressman to introduce articles of impeachment
Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tennessee, announced Thursday that he plans to introduce articles of impeachment against President Trump.
Cohen cited potential obstruction of justice and violations of the Constitution's Foreign Emoluments Clause as the reasons for impeachment while also addressing his own strong moral opposition to the president's words and actions relating to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend.
After comments on #Charlottesville , I'll be introducing Articles of #Impeachment against #Trump. No good Nazis or Klansmen! #ImpeachTrump pic.twitter.com/x6pWL35evL
— Steve Cohen (@RepCohen) August 17, 2017
"In response to the horrific events in Charlottesville, I believe the President should be impeached and removed from office," Cohen said in a statement released by his office. "Instead of unequivocally condemning hateful actions by neo-Nazis, white nationalists and Klansmen following a national tragedy, the President said 'there were very fine people on both sides.' There are no good Nazis. There are no good Klansmen."
The congressman's call to remove Mr. Trump from office comes after the president blamed the Charlottesville disruption on "both sides"-- both the white supremacists leading the "Unite the Right" rally, and their counter-protesters, who Mr. Trump labeled the "alt-left."
"Well, I do think there's blame," Trump said in a press conference from Trump Tower in New York on Tuesday. "Yes, I think there is blame on both sides. You look at both sides. I think there is blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it. And you don't have doubt about it either. And if you reported it accurately, you would say.
Cohen also serves as a Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice. A move to impeach Mr. Trump from the White House will likely not pick up speed in a Republican-controlled Congress.
"As a Jew and as an American and as a representative of an African American district, I am revolted by the fact that the President of the United States couldn't stand up and unequivocally condemn Nazis who want to kill Jews and whose predecessors murdered 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, and could not unequivocally condemn Klansmen whose organization is dedicated to terrorizing African Americans," Cohen's statement reads.
Cohen is not the first of his colleagues to call for Mr. Trump's impeachment. In July, Rep. Brad Sherman, D-California, and Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, co-sponsored an article of impeachment.
Sherman filed the article one day after the president's eldest son Donald Trump Jr. acknowledged that he met with a Kremlin-connected lawyer during the campaign. Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump's son-in-law, and Paul Manafort, a former Trump campaign manager, were also present at the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting. The lawyer promised potentially damaging information on the Trump campaign's Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.