Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) reiterated her call on Thursday for Congress to begin impeachment proceedings for President Donald Trump.
Tlaib, a first-term congresswoman representing Michigan's 13th District, has led the drumbeat for impeachment for months. She’s formally introduced a resolution to open an impeachment inquiry, something which so far hasn’t been taken up by Democratic leadership in the U.S. House.
But Tlaib says “people now are all of a sudden listening” after special counsel Robert Mueller publicly spoke this week about his report on possible connections between President Trump, Russian interference in the 2016 election, and efforts to interfere with subsequent investigations into it.
Tlaib called Mueller’s report “an impeachment referral to Congress.” But she believes Trump’s impeachable behavior extends beyond that, and says Congress should focus on what he’s done since taking over the presidency.
Tlaib says Trump’s refusal to fully divest from his business interests, and executive branch stonewalling on Congressional subpoenas, add up to conduct that’s “actually worse than what happened in Watergate.”
“We have somebody that is lawless. That is a king-like President,” Tlaib said. “And it’s about time that we do our job and our responsibility and put our country first, and we have to have an impeachment inquiry. We have to hold him accountable.”
“I think we should be worried, that the balance of power, the constitutional crisis that we see right now, is something that sets a precedent if we don’t do anything about it. It sets a dangerous precedent, because this endangers our democracy.”
Tlaib’s comments come the same week that Michigan U.S. Rep. Justin Amash (R-Cascade Township) caused a firestorm as the first Republican lawmaker to accuse Trump of engaging in “impeachable conduct.”
Tlaib says she hasn’t spoken to Amash about it, but that after serving with Amash in the Michigan Legislature, she’s not surprised by his stance.
“He has not changed in that he thinks the Constitution is brilliant, and it’s awesome,” Tlaib said. “He thinks it’s his number one priority as a member of Congress to uphold the Constitution, and I couldn’t agree with him more.”
