Ocasio-Cortez Makes Impeachment Announcement On Twitter

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Although Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation has concluded, political fault lines are continuing to take shape across the national landscape. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who by no means flies under the radar, has now come out in support of impeaching President Donald Trump, tying her decision to the version of Mueller’s final report that dropped this Thursday. In that lengthy document, there’s a key takeaway — Mueller’s team concluded it should be up to Congress to determine whether or not the president obstructed justice and how or if he should be held liable.

To that end, Ocasio-Cortez says she’ll be signing onto a resolution for possible impeachment that fellow new but high-profile Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) introduced last month.

 

The New York progressive shared:

‘Mueller’s report is clear in pointing to Congress’ responsibility in investigating obstruction of justice by the President. It is our job as outlined in Article 1, Sec 2, Clause 5 of the US Constitution. As such, I’ll be signing onto Rashida Tlaib’s impeachment resolution. While I understand the political reality of the Senate + election considerations, upon reading this DoJ report, which explicitly names Congress in determining obstruction, I cannot see a reason for us to abdicate from our constitutionally mandated responsibility to investigate.’

House Democrats have certainly pursued a number of other high-profile aims even as few expected they’d gain ground in the still Republican-majority Senate let alone ever sport a presidential signature while Donald Trump is in the White House. They have pursued wide-ranging ethics reform, for instance, passing the comprehensive For the People Act even as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made no indication he’d bring it for a floor vote. Still, the issues the legislation addresses like eligible voters getting pressured into not voting and ethics violations in federal government are tangible — so what’s stopping House Democrats from addressing the clear-cut legal issue of possible presidential obstruction in front of them now, even with political blowback?

Democratic leaders, including perhaps most prominently House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), have consistently punted the question of impeachment down the road. At one point recently, she suggested that Trump wasn’t “worth it,” although she followed that to say further, final determinations should wait until the Mueller report. As she summarized at the time:

‘My view is that impeachment is very divisive in the country, and when we see what we need to see it may be imperative that he be impeached. But up until then, he’s not worth it.’

Still, support for the idea continues to grow, as Ocasio-Cortez’s new announcement exemplifies. Previous pushes for impeachment from Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) garnered the support of around 60 Democrats — hardly an insignificant figure, even if still a minority.

It’s one of a number of potentially dramatic political steps on the table for House Democrats going forward now that at least a version of the Mueller report is out. Besides saying he’d be subpoenaing the full, unredacted investigation report, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) went so far that he asserted he wants Mueller himself to testify.

Check out Twitter’s response to Ocasio-Cortez…

Screenshot-2019-04-18-at-7.29.41-PM Ocasio-Cortez Makes Impeachment Announcement On Twitter Donald Trump Politics Social Media Top Stories Screenshot-2019-04-18-at-7.28.41-PM Ocasio-Cortez Makes Impeachment Announcement On Twitter Donald Trump Politics Social Media Top Stories Screenshot-2019-04-18-at-7.28.22-PM Ocasio-Cortez Makes Impeachment Announcement On Twitter Donald Trump Politics Social Media Top Stories Screenshot-2019-04-18-at-7.26.54-PM Ocasio-Cortez Makes Impeachment Announcement On Twitter Donald Trump Politics Social Media Top Stories

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