Group: 9 reasons Trump is impeachable
A group pushing for impeachment proceedings against President Trump says he’s violated the Constitution by profiting off of the presidency, making their case during a panel discussion at a local hotel.
“This is a presidency that is obsessed, obsessed with profit,” said Ben Clements, board chairman of the nonprofit Free Speech for People.
“Profit for Donald Trump. Profit for his family,” said Clements, former chief legal counsel for former Gov. Deval Patrick, “Even for someone inclined to read or listen, it would be difficult to learn about the issues affecting the country putting that much of your efforts using the presidency to enrich yourself.”
Clements and other panelists with the group said it’s time for the U.S. House of Representatives to begin committee hearings to impeach Trump. The group, which was also promoting a book on the topic, spoke at the W Boston hotel yesterday. About two dozen people attended.
Panelists said Trump has committed nine offenses, some of which are not against the law, but which the framers of the Constitution have said were impeachable.
The group said Trump’s impeachable actions include: accepting foreign and domestic emoluments, specifically citing increasing fees at Trump’s South Florida club Mar-a-Lago; obstruction of justice, citing efforts to impede special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and the firing of former FBI Director James B. Comey; directing law enforcement to investigate his critics; abusing the power of pardon, undermining freedom of the press; and the detention of children and their families at the border.
Tom Steyer, the billionaire behind the Need to Impeach campaign, said there is an urgent need to begin impeachment proceedings because of Trump’s links to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump’s recent Supreme Court pick, Brett Kavanaugh, who Steyer said doesn’t support indicting a sitting president. “We have a president who is insisting on meeting personally with the head of the country that hacked our last election. That the FBI said is trying to hack this election. And the president wants to do it without any American witnesses so that no one can say what goes on. An amazing and threatening fact in terms of the safety of the American people and the safety of the American democracy,” Steyer said of Trump’s upcoming meeting with Putin in Helsinki.
Despite the group’s push, Democrats are divided on the prospect of impeachment. In December, U.S. Reps. Michael E. Capuano, James McGovern, Katherine Clark and Seth Moulton all voted against tabling an impeachment resolution when it was before the House. Reps Richard E. Neal, Niki Tsongas, Stephen F. Lynch, and William Keating voted with Republicans to kill the resolution. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III did not vote.