Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) doubled down on his calls for impeachment, insisting it is the “only solution” to President Trump’s rhetoric.
“This is a president now standing before a crowd of people who have moved from ‘lock her up’ to ‘send her back,’” Green told Hill.TV on “Rising.”
“This is unbelievable in this country,” he continued. “If somebody doesn’t take a stand, there will be no guardrails for this president.”
“He disrespects the court, he disrespects Congress — at some point we must take this seriously and impeach him — that is the only solution,” he added.
The Texas lawmaker also made it clear that he intends to continue to push for impeachment, saying “we cannot allow bigotry to rear its ugly head at the highest level of government.”
Green’s comments come after the Democratic-led House voted 332-95 to kill his latest bid to impeach Trump. The eight-term congressman had previously tried to impeach Trump on two other occasions and was roundly defeated.
His latest push for impeachment was in response to Trump’s remarks over the weekend against four Democratic lawmakers, all of whom are women of color, to “go back” where they came from. The tweets were denounced by Democrats and a few Republicans as racist.
Even though most Democrats who voted in favor of Green’s resolution were liberal lawmakers, more than a dozen of those who supported the move had not yet formally endorsed impeachment. This included top Democrats, including Reps. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee; Eliot Engel (N.Y.), chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee; and Zoe Lofgren (Calif.).
Impeachment has become a divisive issue within the caucus. Democratic leadership, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has long expressed opposition to the idea due to Republican control of the Senate.
However, Trump’s attacks on the four progressive lawmakers seem to have united the party following weeks of intraparty fighting.
Every single Democrat in the House voted Wednesday to formally condemn Trump’s tweets against the progressive congresswomen as racist.
Just four Republicans, Reps. Susan Brooks (Ind.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Will Hurd (Texas) and Fred Upton (Mich.), broke party ranks to join Democrats and go on record to accuse Trump of inflaming racial tensions.
—Tess Bonn
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