WASHINGTON, DC (AP/WMOT) -- Tennessee Congressional Rep. Steve Cohen is leading a group of half-a-dozen Democrats in filing articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.
As he introduced the articles Wednesday in Washington, Cohen acknowledged he has little chance of advancing the articles in a Republican controlled assembly.
Saying that he feared for the nation’s security and the constitution, Cohen offered up five articles of impeachment.
“The first is obstruction of justice, which deals with Mr. Comey’s firing. The second is for a violation of the constitutions Foreign Emolument Clause, which deals with money he’s taken from foreign powers without the consent of Congress. The third is a violation of the domestic Emoluments Clause.”
Cohen says the fourth article charges Trump with undermining the federal judiciary, while the fifth says the president is undermining the nation’s free press.
But toward the end of yesterday’s press event, Cohen made clear what’s really motivating him is President Trump’s reaction to this past summer’s deadly White Supremacist rally in Charlottesville.
“What happened in Charlottesville burned me as I saw Klansmen and Neo-Nazis march and the president not respond in the manner in which a president of the United States should; and looking out and protecting people of my faith, and the people of my district, Africa-Americans, who were being threatened with their very liberty.”
The Associated Press notes that few of Cohen’s fellow House Democrats support his impeachment effort. They prefer to await the results of the ongoing investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. AP says Democrats also fear energizing Trump’s base ahead of the 2018 mid-term elections.