A Tennessee congressman announced Thursday that he plans to introduce articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, CBS News reported.
"In response to the horrific events in Charlottesville, I believe the President should be impeached and removed from office," Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen said in a statement released by his office. "Instead of unequivocally condemning hateful actions by neo-Nazis, white nationalists and Klansmen following a national tragedy, the President said 'there were very fine people on both sides.' There are no good Nazis. There are no good Klansmen."
Cohen cited potential obstruction of justice and violations of the Constitution's Foreign Emoluments Clause as the reasons for impeachment while also addressing his own strong moral opposition to the president's words and actions relating to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend.
The congressman's call to remove Trump from office comes after the president blamed the Charlottesville disruption on “both sides” -- both the white supremacists leading the "Unite the Right" rally, and their counter-protesters, who Trump labeled the "alt-left."
"Well, I do think there's blame," Trump said in a news conference from Trump Tower in New York on Tuesday. "Yes, I think there is blame on both sides. You look at both sides. I think there is blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it. And you don't have doubt about it either.”
Cohen also serves as a Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice.
"As a Jew and as an American and as a representative of an African American district, I am revolted by the fact that the President of the United States couldn't stand up and unequivocally condemn Nazis who want to kill Jews and whose predecessors murdered 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, and could not unequivocally condemn Klansmen whose organization is dedicated to terrorizing African Americans," according to Cohen's statement.
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