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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release

More Than 75 Members Of Congress Now Calling For an Impeachment Inquiry Against Donald Trump

"In the face of overwhelming evidence of obstruction of justice and Trump's publicly-stated willingness to rely on illegal foreign assistance in the 2020 election, as he did in 2016, every day more members of the House are calling for impeachment proceedings. These patriotic members recognize that it is time to do what the Constitution, their consciences, and their constituents demand, despite the resistance and pressure from the Speaker of the House," said Ben Clements, Board Chair of Free Speech For People.

WASHINGTON

"In the face of overwhelming evidence of obstruction of justice and Trump's publicly-stated willingness to rely on illegal foreign assistance in the 2020 election, as he did in 2016, every day more members of the House are calling for impeachment proceedings. These patriotic members recognize that it is time to do what the Constitution, their consciences, and their constituents demand, despite the resistance and pressure from the Speaker of the House," said Ben Clements, Board Chair of Free Speech For People. "Now it's time for Speaker Pelosi to decide whether she will heed that call or go down in history as the person who blocked an impeachment investigation of the most corrupt and impeachable president in our nation's history."

"You can draw a direct line from Congress's failure to hold President Trump accountable for taking unconstitutional payments from foreign governments on the first day of his presidency, to detention camps for children with no soap or toothpaste," says Ron Fein, Legal Director of Free Speech For People. "Congress needs to stop dithering and start the process of considering whether to impeach President Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors."

"Members of Congress have a sworn duty to defend the Constitution in the face of the occupant of the White House shredding it every day," says John Bonifaz, Co-Founder and President of Free Speech For People. "We applaud the more than 75 Members of Congress who have upheld that oath and called for an impeachment inquiry of this president. We urge all other Members of Congress who remain standing on the sidelines at this critical hour for our nation to enter the field and protect our republic."

In 2017, Free Speech For People co-launched a campaign calling for impeachment proceedings with an initial focus on President Trump's violations of the emoluments clauses of the Constitution based on his refusal to divest fully from his business interests prior to taking the oath of office. The campaign has since expanded to include eleven legal grounds for impeachment proceedings, and more than 1.4 million Americans have signed on to support their call. On May 9, 2019, Free Speech For People and allied organizations delivered more than 10 million petition signatures to Congress urging that it start an impeachment inquiry of the president.

Ron Fein, John Bonifaz, and Ben Clements are the co-authors of a new book, The Constitution Demands It: The Case For The Impeachment of Donald Trump, published in August 2018 by Melville House, detailing the legal case for impeachment hearings. The book presents a legal analysis based on the text, structure, and history of the Constitution and federal law, and legal and political precedent. The case for an impeachment investigation includes: violating two of the anti-corruption provisions of the US Constitution (the emoluments clauses); obstructing justice; conspiring to solicit and then conceal illegal foreign assistance for his presidential campaign; abusing the pardon power; undermining the freedom of the press; recklessly threatening nuclear war against foreign nations; directing or seeking to direct law enforcement, including the Department of Justice and the FBI, to prosecute political adversaries for improper purposes; advocating illegal violence and undermining equal protection of the laws; ordering the cruel and unconstitutional imprisonment of children and their families at the southern border; conspiring to illegally influence the 2016 election through a series of hush money payments; and abusing emergency powers to fund and build a border wall that Congress has explicitly refused to fund.

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.