'Please Do Your Job': Grassroots Group Circulates New Pledge Calling on Lawmakers to Support Trump Impeachment

Calling on election officials to move "off the fence and into action to remove Donald Trump from office," a grassroots coalition on Tuesday introduced a pledge for members of Congress to sign stating that they will vote to impeach President Donald Trump and support the national movement to ensure that impeachment is pursued by lawmakers.

The national group By the People joined with CREDO Action and other progressive action groups in circulating the pledge, which reads, "I pledge to defend the Constitution and the American People by voting to impeach President Donald J. Trump."

As of Tuesday afternoon, Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) were the only two members of Congress who had signed the pledge.

"As I always say: Tick tock, Individual 1," said Tlaib, using the code name that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation has used to refer to Trump in documents. "I can't wait for us to show people, especially families in my district, that they are being put first--and that we're going to hold everyone accountable to the law, including the President of the United States."

A number of other lawmakers have also supported impeachment, including Reps. Al Green (D-Texas), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.)--but they have yet to sign the pledge.

The pledge was introduced as Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, is set to begin three days of testimony on Tuesday before multiple congressional committees. He is expected to discuss details of Trump's finances, business dealings as head of the Trump Organization, activities during his 2016 presidential campaign, and conflicts of interest at Trump International Hotel and his charity, the Trump Foundation.

Cohen may be asked whether Trump ever asked him to lie to Congress on his behalf and whether or not Cohen believes the president has obstructed justice.

"This is not an issue of Republicans vs. Democrats. It's about checking the flagrant abuse of presidential power from a white supremacist who is profiting off of the presidential office, abusing his powers, and undermining our democracy and our Constitution," said By the People spokesperson Alexandra Flores-Quilty in a statement.

A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll found in late December that about 60 percent of Americans supported impeachment proceedings for the president. In addition to the pledge, By the People is also circulating a petition to the public, calling on Americans to demand their representatives bring charges against Trump.

"Please do your job: Defend us from a president who believes he can get away with anything," the message to lawmakers in the petition reads. "If the president violates the Constitution, Congress is supposed to defend the American people by impeaching and removing the president from office."