By Aaron Miller-
Democratic Republican Al Green has filed articles of impeachment against President Trump on Tuesday under a process bound to lead to a House floor vote by the end of this week.
Green introduced his articles of impeachment after the House passed a resolution symbolically lines condemning Trump for suggesting that four progressive freshman congresswomen of colour should go back to their respective countries. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) were all openly subjected to the racist rhetoric from the U.S president, sparking public uproar across the globe for the comments.
“To condemn a racist president is not enough, we must impeach him, Green said. This will be a defining vote. The world is watching, and history will judge us all,” Green said in his statement. This will be the third impeachment floor vote forced by Green in the last two years, but the first since Democrats took control of the House.
“I believe if we don’t do this, the President will only intensify his ugly behaviour,” Green said. “It just seemed to me that we should bring these articles before the House of Representatives so that we could not only condemn him, but impeach him so that he will understand that there are some boundaries.” The push for an impeachment inquiry among Democrats is expected to grow after the highly anticipated testimony of Robert Mueller expected on July 24, but insiders believe there are might still be enough people to prevent its eventual occurrence.
FORCED
Green previously forced procedural votes on articles of impeachment against Trump in December 2017 and January 2018, generating the limited support of about 60 House Democrats. A total of 84 House Democrats currently back the idea of an impeachment inquiry .
Green read out his articles of impeachment on the House floor, saying Trump is “unfit to defend the ideals that have made America great” and “unfit to ensure domestic tranquillity” and “promote the general welfare.” Green accused Trump of having sown seeds of discord among the people of the United States” by inflaming racial tensions, adding that he had “brought the high office of president of the United States in contempt, ridicule, disgrace and disrepute.”
The president has since tweeted: “I don’t have a Racist bone in my body!”
Tuesday’s vote condemning Trump’s racist comments was passed by 240 votes to 187 in the Democratic-controlled chamber. Four Republicans and the chamber’s sole independent, former Republican lawmaker Justin Amash, joined all 235 Democrats to approve the resolution. Texas congressman Will Hurd – the only African American Republican – was joined by his Pennsylvania member Brian Fitzpatrick, Michigan member Fred Upton and Indiana member Susan Brooks.
In a series of tweets on Sunday, the president said Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib “originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe” and should “go back”.
Democratic leaders appear indecisive about Green’s motion, and have no strategy in place for its implementation at the moment. It will go ahead in tense circumstances. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md) said Green will not be discouraged from pursuing a vote on impeachment proceedings, but stressed the view from Democratic leaders that pushing for impeachment at this point is premature,
Premature because of the testimony from special counsel Robert Mueller before Congress next week about his report’s findings on whether Trump obstructed justice in his investigation of Russia’s election interference.
“I think we need to hear from [Mueller] and analySe what he had to say,” Hoyer said. “I think there’s a lot of information to come, and we will see as the speaker has said-where it leads us”.