Fresh bid to impeach Trump
Trump says he could declare state of emergency over wall funding
WORLD |
IN THE steady stream of political sound bites, nothing cuts through the noise quite like what Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib said of President Donald Trump on Thursday night: “We’re going to go in there, and we’re going to impeach the mother**** er,” the Michigan freshman congresswoman said to rapturous applause from supporters just hours after she was sworn into the 116th Congress.
Tlaib is one of a handful of outspoken Democrats who have thrust impeachment proceedings against the president to the front of their agenda, despite the party brass’s more measured tone.
Newly elected Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and other party leaders have said they want to wait for special counsel Robert S Mueller III to issue a final report from his Russia probe before moving to impeach Trump – if they even do.
Pelosi said on NBC’S Today on Thursday that politics will not play a role one way or the other in whether Democrats decide to impeach the president. “We shouldn’t be impeaching for a political reason, and we shouldn’t avoid impeachment for a political reason.”
California Representative Brad Sherman reintroduced articles of impeachment on Thursday that he and co-sponsor Representative Al Green filed in 2017. The articles accuse Trump of obstructing justice by firing former FBI director James B Comey after Comey refused to stop investigating former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Tlaib’s charged comments reflect opinions she shared in an opinion piece published in the Detroit Free Press that day: “President Donald Trump is a direct and serious threat to our country. On an almost daily basis, he attacks our constitution, our democracy, the rule of law and the people who are in this country,” Tlaib wrote. “Each passing day brings more pain for the people most directly hurt by this president, and these are days we simply cannot get back.”
Meanwhile, Trump has said he could declare a state of national emergency to build the Us/mexico border wall without the approval of Congress. His comments came after he met with senior Democrats on Friday and failed to end a stand-off, which has seen the government partially shut down for two weeks.
Trump said the closure could last months or years. So far, 800000 public workers have been unpaid since December 22.
The deadlock started after he withheld support to fully fund the government until he receives his request of $5.6 billion (R78.2bn) to build the wall.
Trump said he could use extraordinary measures to build the wall.
“We can call a national emergency because of the security of our country … I may do it. But we can call a national emergency and build it quickly. And it’s another way of doing it.” he said. | dpa Reuters African News
Agency (ANA)