March, 27 2019, 12:00am EDT
National Public Interest Groups Rally Behind Resolution to Launch Impeachment Investigation Against President Trump
Representing over one million people, Free Speech For People and By the People issued a joint statement today endorsing Representative Rashida Tlaib's resolution to authorize the House Committee on Judiciary to inquire whether President Trump has committed impeachable offenses.
WASHINGTON
Representing over one million people, Free Speech For People and By the People issued a joint statement today endorsing Representative Rashida Tlaib's resolution to authorize the House Committee on Judiciary to inquire whether President Trump has committed impeachable offenses.
"Donald Trump has been committing impeachable offenses on a daily basis throughout his presidency. It is past time for Congress to hold him accountable and the House should act promptly on Representative Tlaib's resolution," says Ben Clements, the Board Chair of Free Speech For People and co-author alongside John Bonifaz and Ron Fein of the book The Constitution Demands It: The Case For The Impeachment of Donald Trump.
"We applaud Congresswoman Tlaib for introducing this resolution to start a formal impeachment investigation of the president," says John Bonifaz, Co-Founder and President of Free Speech For People. "Members of Congress took an oath to defend our Constitution and that responsibility cannot be delegated to an attorney general chosen by the president to shield him from any accountability. This impeachment investigation must move forward now, and it must cover all of the potential high crimes committed by this president, not only those which may be revealed by the Mueller report."
"Since it began, the Mueller investigation has demonstrated that Trump is a corrupt liar who values despots and dollars over the lives of Americans -- and that his inner circle broke the law on his behalf. From what we've seen with our own eyes, we know that Trump's near-daily impeachable offenses also stretch far beyond the scope of the Mueller report," says Alexandra Flores-Quilty, spokesperson for By the People. "That's why the American people have been pushing our members of Congress to do their constitutional duty and impeach Trump. Congress no longer has any excuses to wait to use the tool designed to protect our democracy from threats such as this -- which warrant action now, not during the next election cycle. Heeding this call, Representative Rashida Tlaib just introduced the first House resolution to begin an official investigation into grounds for impeachment. Impeachment is not only necessary, it's possible: if we the people remind Congress that they work for us."
"The House of Representatives has a critical role in holding the president accountable for potentially impeachable misconduct. That includes pocketing unconstitutional payoffs from foreign governments through his businesses, scheming with his lawyer to make illegal hush money payments to influence an election, and--whatever his handpicked attorney general may decide for purposes of criminal prosecution--obstructing the administration of justice. We look forward to the House opening an impeachment inquiry as soon as possible," says Ron Fein, Legal Director of Free Speech For People.
In a Dear Colleague letter to fellow Members of Congress, Representative Tlaib references three specific areas of inquiry:
- Whether the actions of President Trump and his businesses violate the Foreign Emoluments Clause. Through President Trump's businesses in the United States and abroad, the president has received payments, regulatory approval, and other forms of direct and indirect financial benefits from foreign governments.
- Whether President Trump committed crimes to defraud the United States by directing Michael Cohen to make illegal payments to interfere and affect the 2016 Presidential election, which has eroded faith in elections and perpetuated political corruption.
- Whether the Special Counsel's evidence on obstruction of justice pertaining to the President's actions and intents violates federal law.
Free Speech For People is a national non-partisan non-profit organization founded on the day of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC that works to defend our democracy and our Constitution.
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