Rep. Al Green calls for President Trump's impeachment
Raw video: Democratic representative from Texas says the president is not above the law
Texas Rep. Al Green said Monday that he has canceled plans to file a resolution this week calling for President Trump's impeachment, in light of the mass shooting in Las Vegas.
Green said on the House floor that there is a time for all things but right now is a time to mourn -- after a lone gunman killed at least 59 people and wounded more than 520 others at a concert Sunday night on the Vegas strip.
“Impeachment is postponed. … Let us mourn. Let us heal,” said Green, allowing fellow House Democrats to avoid a potentially risky vote for now.
The attack in Vegas, from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, is the deadliest mass shooting in modern United States history.
While congressional Democrats uniformly oppose Trump, party leaders have pushed back on such early impeachment calls.
Any Democrat who votes to impeach could face a backlash, considering some live in districts or states Trump won and the party has struggled to win special elections all year on an anti-Trump message.
Green had teed up his resolution during a floor speech last week, condemning Trump’s attacks on NFL players who kneel during the national anthem. He vowed to file the impeachment articles, without saying on what grounds he would file them.
“I rise to denounce these comments that have been made because they have brought discourse to a new low,” Green said. “I will stand here in the well of the Congress and I will call for the impeachment of the president.”
New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee where impeachment proceedings typically begin, told The Hill in response to Green’s threat: “We’re not there yet,” despite Trump having done “really terrible things.”
He also suggested that impeachment proceedings could be more effective later, saying, ”We don’t have the evidence. We don’t have the case. … You don’t want to discredit it by voting for impeachment resolutions before you have the facts.”
House rules indicate the filing of an impeachment article would trigger a floor vote within two days.
The GOP-controlled chamber would almost certainly reject the resolution should it return, but its filing would still result in a procedural vote that would likely have the same impact as a full House floor vote.
Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
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