Thursday on “Democracy Now,” Rep. Al Green (D-TX) said President Donald Trump could be impeached without having committed a crime.
Green said, “This is a very sad time in the history of our country. This is not something that I enjoy talking about, nor is it something that I would like to do. But I think it’s becoming increasingly clear that the president will have two options: One, he can resign from office, or, two, he can face impeachment. Impeachment is something that the Framers of the Constitution provided for a time such as this and a president such as Trump. The president does not have to commit a crime to be impeached. In fact, the president is not likely to be indicted, which means he’s not likely to be found guilty of a crime while he’s sitting, which means that if this comes before the House, it won’t come before the House as a president who has been found guilty, but rather as a president who is alleged to have committed certain offenses that are onerous to the Constitution and that harm society. And what this president is doing is harming society.”
He continued, “More specifically, what Mr. Cohen stated in court—he had a lawyer. He is a lawyer. He says that he and the president of the United States conspired. He didn’t use that exact word, but that’s what it means when you say the president directed you, and you followed through. So they conspired to commit an offense. The president may never be found guilty of it, but he can be impeached for it. It’s my opinion that the Judiciary Committee is not doing its job. This whole impeachment investigation is being outsourced. The Framers of the Constitution intended for the Judiciary Committee to do this—gather information, make decisions, move forward. If the Judiciary Committee doesn’t move forward, then I think it’s incumbent upon the 435 members, each of whom have the opportunity to bring articles of impeachment, to consider doing so. I will surely consider doing so.”
He added, “It’s my opinion that you cannot allow an unfit president to continue to cause harm to society. Let’s take just a few examples quickly. When those persons in Charlottesville were saying “blood and soil,” “Jews will not replace us,” many of them worked in places that probably serve Jews and minority persons. One can only imagine what would happen to the food of a person who is of African ancestry who is being served by one of those bigots, one of those racists. Let’s take the example of what happened at the border with those babies that were being separated from their mothers by virtue of a policy instituted by this president. That was a form of bigotry that is intolerable. We don’t have to allow the president to continue to harm our society. The Framers of the Constitution contemplated that there would be a president who would do things even more horrible than this, but also things as horrible as this, such that that president could be removed from office. And the Framers concluded that no person should be above the law and that the president should not be beyond justice. It is justice that we seek for the people of this country, and the president should be impeached. He doesn’t have to commit a crime, only has to have his case brought before the House of Representatives, and 218 people decide that he has committed an impeachable act.”
(h/t RCP Video)
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