Rep. Al Green calls for President Trump's impeachment
Raw video: Democratic representative from Texas says the president is not above the law
Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green renewed calls for the impeachment of President Trump on the House floor Wednesday, in the wake of new allegations concerning the Russia probe -- as other lawmakers warned against a rush to judgment.
Green first called for impeachment on Monday, joining other liberal lawmakers like Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., in pursuing a step most Democratic leaders suggest is premature.
But the New York Times report claiming Trump asked former FBI chief James Comey to end the probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn emboldened Green.
“I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to call for the impeachment of the President of the United States of America for obstruction of justice,” Green said, implying Trump fired Comey due the Russian investigation. “We cannot allow this to go unchecked—the president is not above the law, it is time for the American people to weigh in.”
Green went on to explain that implementing the impeachment process does not, necessarily, mean the president would be found guilty. In any impeachment proceeding, the Senate would effectively hold a trial to determine guilt.
But Republicans and most Democrats are strongly warning against such impeachment talk. The White House also strongly denied the claims in the Times.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., told lawmakers after Green’s remarks that “members are reminded to refrain in engaging in personalities toward the president such as accusations that he committed an impeachable offense.”
Ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said on Wednesday that: "No one should rush to embrace the most extraordinary remedy for removing a president."
Democratic Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Claire McCaskill of Missouri reiterated the importance of getting the facts first.
“You gotta get the facts, that’s why the special prosecutors are very important, the intelligence committee needs to do their job,” Tester said. “That’s why the FBI needs to do their job, once you get to the facts, then you can make a good decision. If you don’t have facts, you don’t make good decisions.”
“I don’t think it’s time to talk about anything like that until we see the evidence,” McCaskill told Fox News.
Other Democratic lawmakers who have been discussing impeachment are Reps. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., Mark Pocan, D-Wis., Jared Huffman, D-Calif., and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, who warned constituents at a town hall that if Trump were successfully impeached, “the problems don’t go away,” because then “you have a Vice President Pence who becomes President Pence.”
Former Democratic Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich told Fox News on Tuesday that there was a “danger in engaging in compulsive opposition.”
Kucinich, who called for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney over the decision to go to war in Iraq, told Fox News that this is only an option “after exhausting a number of other options.”
“It is destructive to America to proceed with an impeachment at this stage of the presidency,” Kucinich, a Fox News contributor, said on Tuesday, before The New York Times report on the Comey-Trump meeting. “This is not the first thing you reach for, because when the first big move a party makes is towards impeachment, it’s very difficult for the American people to conclude that it is anything but a partisan issue.”
Fox News' Peter Doocy contributed to this report.
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