Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, the chair of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, said on Tuesday that the American people are demanding Donald Trump be impeached.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, the Democratic congresswoman said it will soon become difficult for the leadership of her party to not move forward on impeachment.
Rep. Waters said that the American people are “going to push on the Congress to do the impeachment. ”
The Democratic congresswoman added, “Ninety percent of all the calls that I’m getting, people see me on the street and they are talking about impeachment.”
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Video:
Rep. @MaxineWaters says she wants Congress to impeach Trump sooner rather than later. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/iH7MzdfsZn
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) April 24, 2019
Rep. Waters said:
I know that as leaders they have the responsibility to try and hold our caucus together and to try and do and lead in the best way that they think will help us to be successful. They are going to try and do everything that they can. If they believe that now is not the time for impeachment, they will keep trying and they’ll go down that road. The American people, in the final analysis, is going to push on the Congress to do the impeachment. My calls are overwhelming, in my office, about impeachment. I have so many calls, 90% of all the calls that I’m getting, people see me on the street and they are talking about impeachment. ‘When are you going to impeach?’ I think, as the level of interest and the level of not putting up with this president any longer comes to the forefront and lays on and leans on and pressures the Congress of the United States, we are going have to do it. We are going to have to impeach. I just wish it was sooner than later.
Democrats should be cautious, but they should also move forward on impeachment
Democrats are right to be cautious when it comes to impeachment. If they don’t get it right the first time, not only won’t they be able to revisit the issue, but it will hurt the party politically going into the 2020 campaign.
But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t still move forward.
Demanding the unredacted Mueller report is a good step. So, too, is bringing in Robert Mueller and other key officials to testify on the special counsel’s findings. Issuing subpoenas for Trump’s financial documents is also the appropriate move.
But what Democrats also need to do is acknowledge that none of this is oversight as usual. The information laid out in Mueller’s report is extraordinarily damning, and it should be treated that way by lawmakers.
The new flurry of congressional activity should be part of a formal impeachment inquiry that gathers all the facts and ultimately decides whether this president should remain in office.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
