‘Imminently Consider Impeachment Proceedings’: Maryland Democrat Pushes Accountability
Attack on Venezuela just one of Trump’s offenses, moderate congresswoman says
A first-term congresswoman wants her Democratic colleagues to begin procedures to ultimately impeach Donald Trump.
The attack Trump ordered against Venezuela is just one reason to pursue what would be an historic third impeachment of this president, according to Rep April McClain Delaney, a moderate Democrat who represents a sprawling district in Maryland that encompasses more-liberal suburbs and more-Republican rural communities.
Trump ordered a massive military assault on Venezuela in the predawn hours of Saturday that also included the capture of the South American nation’s president, Nicholas Maduro and Maduro’s wife.
Maduro and his wife were in the United States Monday, and appeared in federal court in New York City on drug trafficking charges.
Both the attack — and the capture of the Maduros — have been widely condemned as violations of domestic and international law.
“I cannot stand by as my Republican colleagues allow President Trump to defy the rule of law, repeatedly overstep the authority of Congress and undermine our national security and the well-being of my fellow Americans,” the congresswoman said in a statement released Monday. “Over the weekend, we saw the President – without authorization or approval from Congress, as required by our Constitution – launch an attack on Venezuela and voice his intention to ‘run’ the country. This move follows a year in which he has illegally dismantled federal agencies, conducted cruel immigration raids against our neighbors – including American citizens, instigated an unlawful trade war, called for the execution of sitting Members of Congress, and now is escalating international tensions even further with military threats against Colombia and Greenland. These individual actions are impeachable offenses in their own right, but their ever mounting cumulative impact on our country’s stability and health puts everything in a new light. I now believe that our Democratic Caucus must imminently consider impeachment proceedings.
Impeachment would reclaim the authority that Congress has ceded to Trump since he returned to office last year, according to the Maryland lawmaker.
“I took an oath to uphold the Constitution and to fight unlawful behavior, and I firmly believe it is now paramount that we begin this impeachment process to end this lawlessness and restore stability and trust in our government. Our forefathers intended to create three co-equal beaches of government to provide a check and balance on lawless power seized by any single branch. It is time – full stop – for Congress to step up to the plate and stop this Administration's unauthorized and harmful actions,” she said in her statement.
It would take 218 votes in the House to begin impeachment proceedings against Trump. Democrats don’t have that majority today but could find a handful of Republicans to align with to force a vote with a discharge petition.
Trump already was impeached twice during his first term, for withholding congressionally approved funding for Ukraine and then for helping overturn the lawful means to certify the 2020. However, neither time was the Senate able to muster the votes to remove him from office.
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