Rep. Al Green (D-TX) joined Tom Steyer’s “Need to Impeach” movement on Tuesday and said failing to impeach “unfit” President Donald Trump will put “society at greater risk of additional harm.”
“Because I love my country, for nearly two years, I have been adamant about the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump for his invidious discrimination, policies emanating from his presidency that are rooted in bigotry, and interfering with the Russia investigation,” Green said.
Mentioning that he first called for Trump’s impeachment on the House floor in May of 2017, Green said impeachment proceedings should have started when Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey and “confessed that he did so with the Russia thing in mind.”
Green, saying the Framers never intended that Congress “outsource the investigative responsibilities to the executive branch,” said there is “no constitutional authority requiring Congress to abate its responsibility to impeach” a president who is “unfit to serve by virtue of the harm that he has perpetuated upon society.”
“The seeds of discord continue to germinate and society continues to suffer as the healing power of impeachment is delayed and denied,” Green said. “It’s not about Democrats. It’s about preserving our democracy. It’s not about Republicans. It’s about protecting our republic.”
Green called on his colleagues to “discern whether impeachment is the right thing to do, knowing history will judge us all.”
Calling Steyer a “true patriot,” Green said he is a son of the segregated South and added that he does not “want to see a return” to some of the things that he has had to endure and suffer.”
Green said that is why he will strongly try to impeach Trump for “bigotry,” echoing his previous declarations that he Trump needs to impeached for “placing his bigotry into policy that is harmful to our society.”