Pelosi ally, freshman Dem join calls for Trump impeachment
WASHINGTON — Four Democrats have joined a slowly growing group calling for impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, including a close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a Democrat who flipped a Republican district.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, DIll., a congressional veteran, said in a Twitter video posted Wednesday evening that Trump “certainly has
committed all kinds of offenses that meet the standard” for a formal charge by the House. Also Wednesday, Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., told the Chicago Sun-Times that he wants Congress to use “every tool” to investiduring gate Trump, even if that means paying a political price in the 2020 elections.
On Thursday, Rep. Tony Cardenas of California and Rep. Nydia Velazquez of New York tweeted separately that they had each come to the decision after studying special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
The lawmakers’ announcements came after former White House aide Hope Hicks refused to answer House Judiciary Committee questions on Wednesday about Trump his presidency. The new calls highlight a slowly growing chorus from almost 70 House members for an impeachment inquiry, though Democrats still oppose such a move. And Pelosi has resisted launching official proceedings without broad bipartisan support.
On Wednesday night, Schakowsky left that camp.
“The House of Representatives should begin an impeachment inquiry officially, because President Trump certainly has committed all kinds of offenses that meet the standard of impeachment,” she said in the tweeted video.
Casten on the same day set himself apart from many of the Democrats’ most vulnerable freshmen who helped flip the House from Republican control in 2018.
“I am in favor of initiating an impeachment inquiry,” he told the Chicago SunTimes in remarks confirmed by a spokeswoman.
All of the lawmakers said launching an impeachment inquiry would give the House more legal strength to compel information from a president who has vowed not to cooperate with Democratic investigations.
“We cannot allow Trump to continue to obstruct Congress’s investigation and prevent us from getting to the truth,” Cardenas said in a statement posted on Twitter. “We have come up against a wall. It is time to break down that wall.”
Lawmakers who have been calling for an impeachment inquiry said they were pleased.