"We Must Impeach"

[greyl]

Walter Shaub, the former director of the US Office of Government Ethics who now serves as a senior director focusing on ethics issues for the Campaign Legal Center, wants the Trump administration, its surrogates, and its allies to back off from what the center refers to as “their attempt to undermine the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.”

Noting efforts by the president’s lawyer, Jay Sekulow, and others to “muddy the waters and impede Mueller’s investigation,” the center issued a statement Friday from Shaub, in which he said:

The coordinated effort by President Trump and his surrogates to discredit the Mueller investigation raises serious alarms. Rather than making themselves complicit in this assault on the rule of law, Members of Congress should send a clear message to the President that firing Mueller is a red line he must not cross.

Shaub is right about the red line. If Trump fires Mueller, as many now speculate is possible, the United States will find itself in a constitutional crisis—where the executive branch rejects scrutiny, checks and balances, and the rule of law in order to protect itself from accountability. The expert on government rights and wrongs is so concerned that—after a Trump-aligned member of the House, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, appeared on CNN and announced: “I call on my Republican colleagues to join me in the firing of Bob Mueller”—Shaub wrote: “Make a plan folks. Be ready to take to the streets. This is an attack on our Republic.”

https://www.thenation.com/article/if-trump-fires-mueller-we-must-impeach/

Now trending #9 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/search?q=%22We%20Must%20Impeach%22&src=tren

[world wide wally]

1. I am realizing that as trump's guilt becomes more obvious.. so does the complicity of a republican

Congress

[regnaD kciN]

2. Yep. We thought that G.O.P.ers in Congress would eventually break with Trump...

...to save their own skins, but it seems they've decided they can ride it out alongside him.

[Garrett78]

4. They have no choice. To alienate the base would be political suicide.

The Trump base is the Republican base. As Obama said during the campaign last year, the GOP has been "feeding their base all kinds of crazy for years." Trump is the result.

[world wide wally]

6. This could mean war

[greyl]

3. In plain sight, and most are seeing it. nt

[Garrett78]

5. He was worthy of impeachment from the very start.

Amy Goodman interviewed an attorney named John Bonifaz, who succinctly makes the case for impeachment:

JOHN BONIFAZ: Well, to be clear, what we’re doing here with this impeachment campaign that we launched with RootsAction on the day of the inauguration, because the president had refused to divest from his business holdings all across the world in defiance of the anti-corruption provisions of the Constitution—what we’re doing, Amy, is designed to defend our Constitution and our democracy.

This is not about being dissatisfied about certain policies of the president. This is about the Constitution and the basic fundamental principle in this country that no one is above the law, not even the president of the United States. And he walked into the Oval Office that day already defying the rule of law, already refusing to comply with those two anti-corruption provisions of the Constitution.

AMY GOODMAN: Explain exactly what those two anti-corruption articles of the Constitution are and what he refused to do with his businesses.

JOHN BONIFAZ: So those two anti-corruption provisions are the Foreign Emoluments Clause and the Domestic Emoluments Clause. The Foreign Emoluments Clause makes clear that the president shall not receive, nor any other federal elected official shall not receive, any payments or financial benefits of any kind from any foreign governments. The Domestic Emoluments Clause applies only to the president and says he shall not receive any financial benefits or payments of any kind from the federal government or the state government other than his federal salary.

This is a president who has 111-plus business interests all over the world, many of which involve illegal foreign benefits, foreign government benefits, to him personally, through his company, the Trump Organization, as well as having properties all over the United States that involve state government benefits and the federal government, through the leasing of the Post Office Square in Washington, D.C., that is now the place where the Trump International Hotel resides.

So, what we’re dealing here with is a president who knew, prior to taking the Oval Office, warned by constitutional scholars, that he needed to divest from his business interests in order to comply with those anti-corruption provisions. He refused to, and he is engaged in treating the Oval Office as a profit-making enterprise at the public expense.

AMY GOODMAN: How have things changed since January, when Donald Trump became president?

JOHN BONIFAZ: I think what has happened is we’ve seen a growing list of impeachable offenses that require an impeachment investigation in the U.S. Congress parallel to the Mueller investigation. This is not a question of having to wait and see whether or not the federal criminal investigation that’s proceeding turns up violations of federal criminal law by the president or any of his associates. That’s a separate question.

The question here are crimes against the state. That is what impeachment is about—abuse of power, abuse of public trust, and not only through the violations of the anti-corruption provisions. There is now, of course, evidence of obstruction of justice. There’s evidence of potential conspiracy with the Russian government to interfere with the 2016 elections and violate federal campaign finance laws, among others. There is now evidence of abuse of the pardon power in the pardoning of former Maricopa County Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. There’s recklessly threatening nuclear war against a foreign nation. There’s misuse of the Justice Department to try to prosecute political adversaries. And there’s the giving aid and comfort to neo-Nazis and white supremacists. All of this—all of this deserves an impeachment investigation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

https://www.democracynow.org/2017/12/15/the_growing_case_for_impeaching_donald

[EricMaundry]

7. Why wouldn't an impeachable president do something this impeachable?

It certainly fits the pattern.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

8. Is this a violation of the Congressional oath of office?

...shucks, I forgot Repugs don't give a shit. They are all honey badgers.

[lastlib]

9. "Be ready to take to the streets."

Donald Trump AND HIS REPUBLIKAN ALLIES have attacked our democratic institutions on every front! They Must Go!

[PunkinPi]

10. Rapid Response if Mueller is fired (sponsored by MoveOn.org)...

Donald Trump is publicly considering firing special counsel Robert Mueller, the person leading the Department of Justice investigation of possible illegal actions by Donald Trump and members of his presidential campaign, and the efforts to conceal those activities.

This would be a constitutional crisis for our country. It would demand an immediate and unequivocal response to show that we will not tolerate abuse of power from Donald Trump.

Our response in the minutes and hours following a power grab will dictate what happens next, and whether Congress—the only body with the constitutional power and obligation to rein Trump in from his rampage—will do anything to stand up to him.

That's why we're preparing to hold emergency "Nobody is Above the Law" rallies around the country in the event they are needed.

Use the map or search below by ZIP code to find an event near you, or create one if none exists. (at link below)

https://www.trumpisnotabovethelaw.org/event/mueller-firing-rapid-response/search/

Rallies will begin hours after news breaks of a Mueller firing:

If Mueller is fired BEFORE 2 P.M. local time —> events will begin @ 5 P.M. local time
If Mueller is fired AFTER 2 P.M. local time —> events will begin @ noon local time the following day
This is the general plan—please confirm details on your event page, as individual hosts may tailor their events to their local plan.

[Duppers]

13. Hi Pi!

If this insanity comes to fruition, are y'all going to Richmond or D.C.?
We'll be heading to D.C. if the announcement comes after 2 p.m., otherwise it's Richmond. (The kid works in DC now, btw.) I've signed up for both places just in case.

Taking friends?

[PunkinPi]

15. Haven't decided yet...

since no one knows when/if it may happen. We will be out of town over the holidays, and if it happens then we won't be able to make either DC/Richmond. If it happens when we are in town, it will probably be a last minute decision on the where. So much added stress this year during the holidays because of this idiot.

Hope you and yours have a happy, safe and healthy holiday.

[L. Coyote]

11. They are following the Fascist playbook to the letter, overthrowing democracy step by step.

[spiderpig]

14. I signed up for Berkeley.

My first protest was nearly 50 years ago after Kent State. Never give up your right to free speech and expression of dissent.

In this case it will be expression of horror and disgust.