HOUSTON - Houston Congressman Al Green is calling for the impeachment of President Trump but Republicans are calling it political grandstanding.
"The mantra should be ITN: Impeach Trump now," Green said during a news conference Monday,
The Democratic congressman accused the president of obstructing the investigation into possible ties between Trump's campaign and Russian influence during the 2016 election.
"President Trump is not above the law," he said.
Green cited three acts committed by President Trump that he believes merit impeachment:
The firing of former FBI Director James Comey, who was overseeing a lawful investigation into possible campaign ties to Russian influence.
- Trump acknowledging that he considered the investigation when he fired Comey.
- Making Comey the subject of what Green calls a "threatening" tweet. It read, "James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press.”
- Green says these acts combined add up to intimidation and obstruction.
“A good many people assume that impeachment means that the President will be found guilty. It does not. Impeachment is the genesis of the process. The revelation are likely to be revealed in the Senate and that’s where the trial actually takes place," said Green.
Congressman Green says he’ll wait a few weeks to see how the public and House leadership respond before possibly taking action.
"This is just not serious.This is a desperate cry for attention," responded Paul Simpson, Chair of the Harris County Republican Party.
Simpson said he doesn't believe Trump fired Comey because of the investigation..
"There was no evidence for that at all, there was also no evidence brought out, as the Democrats have had to admit, of any kind of collusion," Simpson said. "They're just looking to prolong this thing and put the American people through agony. "
UH-Downtown associate political science professor Dr. David Branhan says it's easy to start impeachment proceedings in the House. The challenge, he says, is getting a majority vote, first in the Republican-majority judiciary committee, then in the full House.
"There's almost no way that president Trump will be impeached," Branham said."What you basically need is every Democrat to vote for impeachment and then 23 more Republicans to vote for impeachment. So just getting it out of the House right now, I think, is a real longshot."