Luis Gutiérrez, Democratic member of the House Judiciary Committee, said that he and several other colleagues on the panel were preparing to file articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. They are planning to do this before Thanksgiving. If the move passes, it will be the biggest effort by Democrats to remove Trump, but it will not be the first attempt. Articles of impeachment have already been crafted and filed by Democrats acting alone, Newsweek reports.
“We appreciate single members putting in on their own articles of impeachment—we’re going to use a lot of constitutional scholars and really make a case that the president should be impeached,” Gutiérrez said.
The significance of the newest attempt is bigger because it would include several members of a key committee related to impeachment. Even though it is not obligatory that the proceedings run through the Judiciary Committee, the House voted to refer the matter to the panel in the cases of Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. The panel afterwards voted whether to send the impeachment articles it had drafted to the House floor.
Judiciary Committee member Steve Cohen will join Gutiérrez. Cohen has already announced that he is planing to file articles of impeachment after Trump’s “both sides” comments about the deadly violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Before filing the articles, Cohen is intending to find between seven and ten co-sponsors on board. He is expecting the support of one unnamed Republican.
Cohen’s office didn’t want to tell the names of the members who have signed up, but a spokesman said that several members were involved in the process.
“Congressman Cohen is the ranking member of the Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution and civil justice, which is the subcommittee with jurisdiction over impeachment. In that capacity, he is working closely with members to arrive at a consensus on final language for articles of impeachment,” spokesman Bartholomew Sullivan told Newsweek.
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