Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) announced Thursday he is taking the first step towards implementing impeachment articles against President Trump for his remarks on the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Cohen claims that Trump supported white supremacists in the deadly rally Saturday when the president condemned the violence “on both sides” following the attack.
“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,” Cohen said in a statement.
Cohen added that he plans to start the impeachment process against Trump because he feels the president “failed the presidential test of moral leadership.”
Cohen is the second Democrat to file articles of impeachment against Trump.
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) initiated articles of impeachment against Trump in July, alleging the president obstructed justice during the federal investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Rep. Al Green (D-TX), who was one of the first House members to call for Trump’s impeachment, is the only representative who endorsed Sherman’s resolution.
Two other Democrats in the House also called for Trump’s impeachment following his statement on Charlottesville but stopped short of taking action.
Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) and Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) called for Trump to be removed from office, with Speier adding that the Twenty-fifth Amendment that allows Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings be invoked against Trump.