Today a Democratic congressman began impeachment proceedings against President Trump over his comments about the NFL, his handling of the hurricane recovery efforts in Puerto Rico, and his comments about restricting immigration.
Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) specifically acknowledged that Trump had committed no crime, but said this was immaterial.
“Today, I rise to use the constitutionally prescribed political process of impeachment to speak truth to the most powerful man on earth, the president of the United States of America,” Rep. Green said. “I do so knowing that the public has been led to believe that a president must commit a crime to be impeached, which is not true.”
“If any president persisted with the lie that ‘Hitler was right,’ he would be, and should be, impeached not for a crime, but for betraying his trust as President,” Green continued. “I do so knowing that many, of my contemporaries will criticize my actions. Some will castigate me, others may desire to do something more dastardly with hopes of suppressing all embers of courage that might inflame others to speak truth to power or the powerful.”
In laying out his case against Trump, Green accused the president of having “produced a demonstrable record of inciting white supremacy, sexism, bigotry, hatred, xenophobia, race baiting and racism by demeaning, defaming, disrespecting and disparaging women and certain minorities.”
Green also cited Trump for tweeting that the Trump Tower had been wiretapped, banning transgenders from serving in the military, blaming "both sides" for the violence in Charlottesville, as well as disrespecting NFL athletes and their mothers.
Trump, the Texas lawmaker continued, “has fueled and is fueling an alt-right hate machine and his worldwide covert sympathizers, engendering racial antipathy, LGTBQ enmity, religious anxiety, stealthy sexism and dreadful xenophobia, perfidiously causing immediate injury to American society.”
Reading his article of impeachment, Green stated: "Resolved that Donald J. Trump, president of the United States of America, has undermined the integrity of his office with impunity and has brought disrepute on the presidency with immunity, has betrayed trust as president to the manifest injury of the American people, and is unfit to be president."
Green had intended on filing his impeachment resolution last week, but delayed doing so out of respect for the victims of the Las Vegas massacre.