Impeachment Imminent? Rep. Gutierrez Says Articles Will Be Filed Before Thanksgiving
By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 31, 2017 8:33PM
Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) speaks to reporters before hosting a town hall meeting on March 6, 2017 in Chicago / Getty Images / Photo: Scott Olson
US Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) said on Tuesday that the most coordinated Congressional effort to impeach President Donald Trump would materialize in less than a month. Speaking at the City Club of Chicago this morning, Gutierrez said that he and other members of the House Judiciary Committee plan to file articles of impeachment before Thanksgiving.
Other articles of impeachment have been drafted against Trump in the past, but those have come from Congresspersons acting on individual efforts. Gutierrez pledged a different, broader approach. "We appreciate single members putting in on their own articles of impeachment, (but) we’re going to use a lot of constitutional scholars and really make a case that the president should be impeached," Gutierrez said, according to the Tribune.
Speaking with reporters and others after @CityClubChicago breakfast about politics impeachment #DACA #DreamAct & #PuertoRico #twill pic.twitter.com/dpDkMFG62R
— Luis V. Gutierrez (@RepGutierrez) October 31, 2017
Guiterrez's comments came in the wake of a day of legal bombshells in Robert Mueller's investigation. Although Gutierrez reportedly didn't say on what specific grounds an impeachment effort might be launched, he noted, "Our democracy may depend on that one man doing his job," referencing the head of the Special Counsel looking into Russian interference in last year's presidential election.
According to Newsweek, another member of the Judicial Committee, Rep. Steve Cohen, of Tennessee, signaled his aim to file articles of impeachment, in the wake of the Charlottesville tragedy. Cohen claimed earlier this month that at least one Republican lawmaker was considering articles of impeachment.
At the same time, Gutierrez reportedly emphasized that high-ranking Democratic leadership on the Hill was not involved in his specific, but pledged to push forward. "I don’t want everyone running out of here thinking Nancy Pelosi is behind this, or that the Democratic Party is behind this, but I and a group of colleagues on the judiciary committee will file those articles of impeachment," he said, according to the Tribune.
[H/T Tribune]