Sen. Schatz Calls for Impeachment Process

U.S. Capitol, Washington D.C. Photo courtesy of PIXABAY.

Impeachment is the word of the day in Washington D.C., as multiple reports indicate House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is preparing a resolution set to hit the floor by Wednesday.

Rhetoric has swirled around the possible impeachment of President Donald Trump from almost the beginning of his tenure, but several Democrats remained resistant to initiate the process despite calls from more zealous colleagues.

The landscape changed, however, after news broke recently that President Trump pressured Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, as well as Biden’s son, ahead of the Democratic primary.

President Trump has since admitted to the details of the conversation, which took place by phone on July 25, 2019. On Tuesday, President Trump authorized the release of the transcript.

On Monday, Hawai‘i Senator Brian Schatz reacted to the developing situation by calling for impeachment in a public statement released from his office.

“The president is breaking statutory and constitutional law every day, and he is abusing his inherent power as president with regularity, enthusiasm, and most troublingly, impunity,” Sen. Schatz said. “He and his legal team argue that a sitting president’s authorities are so vast that they literally transcend the law. They argue that the Congress has a remedy for this criminality and defiance—the impeachment process. If that is their view, so be it. On behalf of the people who elected us, we must formalize and accelerate the impeachment process so that Congress, by exercising its responsibility under Article 1 of the Constitution, can provide some measure of accountability.”

“This isn’t just essential for now, but so that no future president of either party believes that it is possible, practicable, or wise to defy the law, Congress’ constitutional role and the American people,” Sen. Schatz continued.

A Politico poll conducted in recent days showed that 50% of the American public opposed initiating the impeachment process, while 37% supported it and 12% remained undecided.