In a conference call Wednesday organized by the Progressive Change Campaign Coalition, House Democrats Ruben Gallego (Ariz.) and Marc Pocan (Wis.) said firing FBI Director James Comey puts President Donald Trump on the path to impeachment.
Trump fired Comey Tuesday at the request of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy, according to White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. The timing of this action, alongside the investigation of the Trump campaign’s collusion with Russia, has raised some eyebrows and questions of ethics from all sides of the political spectrum.
Pocan said it’s important to always leave impeachment on the table as an option.
“This has got to still be on the table as an option if there was obstruction of justice by firing FBI director,” Pocan said during the call. “We’re seeing Democrats and Republicans concerned with timing of this decision…we need to keep every tool available to make sure president follows the law.”
“There is a lot of runway until we get there but the president is not helping himself by firing the person investigating him,” Gallego said during the call. “We don’t have the numbers to do something right now, but when it comes to point when we feel there is no other recourse, you’d have—I think —we’d have the full support of the Democratic caucus.”
Though they’re fairly certain the Democrats would support the measure, Gallego and Pocan also asserted the Democratic Party would need to take back the House in the 2018 midterms to have any voice.
H/T the Hill