Pressley puts impeachment on to-do list
Ayanna Pressley said she plans to work with political leaders in Congress to do “whatever we can” to impeach President Trump.
Her call to remove the president from the Oval Office yesterday followed his tweet about a New York Times op-ed, in which an anonymous senior Trump administration official suggests that the president isn’t in charge of his own White House.
“Does the so-called ‘Senior Administration Official’ really exist, or is it just the Failing New York Times with another phony source?” Trump wrote. “If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!”
Pressley said of the op-ed, “I would just say that it doesn’t reveal much that we don’t already know — that this president is completely unfit to be in the White House. I look forward to partnering with many others to do whatever we can to get him impeached.”
When asked by a reporter if she thought the op-ed represents “treason,” Pressley said without elaborating, “There’s a lot of treasonous behavior that is happening.”
Pressley campaign manager Sarah Groh said treason is “broadly defined as anything that undermines the integrity of government.”
Federal law defines treason as “levying war” against the United States or giving “aid and comfort” to enemies.
Of Pressley’s call for Trump’s impeachment, Groh added that Pressley has cited the firing of former FBI Director James Comey as obstruction of justice, “which is grounds for impeachment.”
“Specific charges have been brought and the firing of Comey is top of mind for her,” Groh told the Herald. “Every day we’re drinking from a firehose of assault and insult to all of our civil rights and liberties. … She will be a leading voice in the conversation holding the administration accountable.”
Speaking at a countdown-to-kindergarten event in East Boston yesterday, Pressley also announced that she plans to hit the campaign trails nationally to support other Democrats.
“We’ve been getting some calls from some of my colleagues — potentially to be — on all levels of government from throughout the country,” Pressley said. “I might go and campaign and dedicate some shoe leather there to those races as well.”
Groh said there are no firm plans for Pressley to campaign in any specific races.
Pressley noted she still has a campaign to run ahead of the November elections — in which she faces no opponent — along with continuing her work as a city councilor.
“On top of that, I do have responsibilities which I’m excited to get to as a Democratic nominee to support the coordinated campaign in the Democratic ticket here to make sure that we are electing Democrats from the Corner Office all the way down ballot,” Pressley said. “We made history but I never ran to make history, I just wanted to make change and now I want to get to the work of that.”