One month after Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green grandstanded on the floor "I do not do this for political purposes," a second Democrat has now formally introduced his own article of impeachment against Trump. California Rep Brad Sherman follows the same path as Green, accusing the president of obstructing justice during the federal investigation of Russia’s 2016 election interference.
As a reminder, Green’s criticisms in June focused on Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey, who was leading the administration’s probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 elections.
“The facts are simple and indisputable. The President fired the FBI Director because the director was investigating the President’s campaign connections to Russian interference in the Presidential Election,” Green said Tuesday evening in a statement.
“This is obstruction of justice.”
That’s actually not true. The facts suggest that Trump did nothing wrong.
Even Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi agreed that nobody has provided a smoking gun to justify an impeachment on the grounds of obstruction. “The only thing that matters are the facts – the facts and the law.” And right now, there’s absolutely no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians, or that Trump obstructed justice.
Green has rejected that argument, contending that Trump’s actions have already risen to a level demanding congressional intervention.
“This will remain obstruction of justice regardless of the findings of any investigation,” he said.
And now, as The Hill reports, Rep. Sherman argues that Trump’s abrupt firing of James Comey as FBI director in May amounts to obstructing justice amid the probes of whether Trump's campaign colluded with the Russian government to swing the election.
It cites Comey’s allegations that Trump pressured him to drop the FBI’s investigation into ousted former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn, as well as Trump’s shifting story on why he fired Comey.
White House officials initially pointed to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s memo criticizing Comey’s handling of the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. But Trump later said in an NBC News interview that the Russia probe was on his mind when deciding to fire Comey.
“In all of this, Donald John Trump has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as president and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States. Wherefore, Donald John Trump, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office,” the article of impeachment states.
Sherman drew ire from fellow House Democrats last month when he began circulating a draft article of impeachment and suggested he might force a floor vote on it... But so far he has only one supporter on his article of impeachment - can you guess who? (Spoiler Alert: Rep. Al Green)
Sherman’s article is unlikely to succeed in the GOP-controlled House.
As this graphic from Statista shows, impeachment is a lengthy process and requires a simple majority from the House Judiciary Committee, the House of Representatives and a two-thirds majority of the Senate.
You will find more statistics at Statista
Still, we are sure The Democrats have the ability to wait this out for another three-and-a-half years.. but for now impeachment odds at PredictIt remain low and flat at 10% in 2017.