Freshman Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib is pushing ahead with her impeachment resolution — bucking the leadership of her own party again and working to gather support ahead of plans to formally introduce the proposal this week.
Tlaib is circulating a letter among her colleagues that directs the House Judiciary Committee “to inquire whether President Trump committed impeachable offenses.”
“We all swore to protect our nation, and that begins with making sure that no one, including the President of the United States, is acting above the law. I urge your support in recommending that the House Committee on Judiciary begin hearings, take depositions, and issue subpoenas to answer this question that is fundamental to the rule of law and the preservation of our democracy,” the letter says.
Tlaib’s letter appears to put her on a collision course with some rank-and-file members of her party as well as Democratic leadership, who appear interested in moving on to other fights following the conclusion of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Tlaib also spoke briefly in Tuesday morning’s caucus meeting, where she asked about the next steps of the investigation and mentioned her impeachment resolution, but there was no discussion of it specifically by other members.
Tlaib’s letter outlines a bulleted list of areas she wants Democratic-led committees to pursue, from whether Trump or his businesses violated the Foreign Emoluments Clause to hush money payments during the 2016 presidential campaign paid out by Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has made clear that she is not interested in her party’s majority pursuing impeachment at this point. Most notably, she told The Washington Post magazine earlier this month, “I’m not for impeachment” and that Trump is “just not worth it.”
Following Sunday’s release of Attorney General William Barr’s letter summarizing Mueller’s report — which concluded there was no evidence that members of the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government — Pelosi told members of her caucus she would like to move on. That’s the message she sent to her leadership team during a Monday night meeting, saying their caucus should focus on their agenda and their message, according to two sources.
Tlaib has repeatedly called for Trump’s impeachment since arriving in Congress in January. Most famously, on the night of her swearing-in at an event sponsored by the progressive group MoveOn, Tlaib declared, “we’re going to impeach the motherf****r.”
It is unclear who, if any, of her colleagues will sign on, though Tlaib is not the only Democratic lawmaker to push for impeachment. Tlaib is asking for co-sponsers to sign on by noon on Wednesday.
CNN’s Manu Raju contributed to this report.
