Photo by Bluerasberry / Wikimedia Commons
Audio By Carbonatix
Somehow it’s taken the Democratic Party roughly three years to notice Donald Trump probably should not be president. In addition to having a very weird haircut and being openly senile, Trump has been demonstrably violating the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution every day since he took office, has led a life of fraud and crime, is obviously unfit to run the nation, and, in general, is Donald Trump.
But now that he has outright admitted he pushed the Ukrainian government to open an investigation into his possible 2020 opponent Joe Biden – a brazen abuse of power and a virtually unprecedented act of election meddling by a sitting president – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today said she will finally form a committee to explore impeaching Trump.
In a sign that House Democrats finally seem to be getting serious, multiple South Florida Democrats said today they support Pelosi’s move. And, importantly, some of the lawmakers now sticking out their necks on the issue had previously been fairly center-leaning and risk-averse.
Just before 2:30 p.m., Miami Rep. Donna Shalala, for example, released a statement saying that unless the acting U.S. director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, releases the full text of every single complaint and report filed to Congress over Trump’s actions in Ukraine, she has no choice but to support an impeachment inquiry into the president.
“I swore an oath to defend the Constitution,” she wrote. “The allegations surrounding President Trump’s actions are extremely disturbing. If true – that President Trump attempted to use the power of his office to pressure Ukraine into investigating his political rival – this would represent an abuse of power, a serious threat to our national security, and an attempt to undermine the very foundations of our democracy.”
— Rep. Donna E. Shalala (@RepShalala) September 24, 2019
Shalala isn’t alone. Just before 4:30 p.m., Miami and Broward Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz – an ally of Pelosi’s who’d previously tiptoed around calling for Trump’s ouster – finally said publicly she believes an impeachment inquiry is the right move:
I have seen the President increasingly treat our nation’s laws with impunity.
I have listened to your calls.
I have carefully considered the gravity of impeachment.
This President’s reckless disregard for our laws leaves Congress no choice.
Impeachment inquiry hearings must begin— Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (@RepDWStweets) September 24, 2019
Likewise, Broward and Palm Beach Rep. Lois Frankel released a statement earlier this afternoon saying the Ukraine issue was a bridge too far, even for her.
“It is obvious that President Trump knows no boundaries when advancing his own personal interests,” Frankel stated. “The latest allegations that the President pressured the President of Ukraine to investigate a political opponent and is blocking a whistleblower’s complaint detailing those actions, if true, represent a clear abuse of power and impeachable offense. The American people deserve the truth. I join all those calling for impeachment proceedings.”
The latest allegations that @POTUS pressured the President of Ukraine to investigate a political opponent & is blocking a whistleblower’s complaint detailing those actions, if true, represent a clear abuse of power & impeachable offense. My statement: https://t.co/qEzCs9nNa5
— Rep. Lois Frankel (@RepLoisFrankel) September 24, 2019
At least one other South Florida Democratic congressperson – Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, who represents south Miami-Dade and the Keys – has been calling for Trump to be impeached since at least June. Today she shared a video of longtime Rep. John Lewis demanding Trump’s removal from office and said she “stands by” his words.
“At every turn, this Administration demonstrates complete disdain and disregard for ethics, for the law and for the Constitution."
When you stand by @repjohnlewis, you know you stand on the right side of history. #CultureOfCorruption https://t.co/0wxaK8lGmE
— Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (@RepDMP) September 24, 2019
With Wasserman Schultz taking a late-day stand in favor of an impeachment inquiry, only Miami Gardens Rep. Frederica Wilson remains the lone Miami-Dade Democrat to avoid making a statement today. But her intentions on that front seem clear: She’s long backed previous calls to impeach Trump over what now seems like less egregious conduct. In 2017, she voted to move forward with attempts to impeach the president days after he attacked her online.
Of course, Republicans are reacting with less enthusiasm about the ordeal. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, in a textbook example of Rubio-speak, told reporters today that although he didn’t think Trump should have done what he did, he still wants him to remain president.
It’s possible to “do something that is wrong and not be an impeachable offense and people are throwing that term around so loosely it’s lost all meaning,” he nonsensically claimed mere hours before Pelosi gave the term actual “meaning” and opened an impeachment inquiry into the president.
