Democrats are livid over freshman Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s (D-MI) profanity-laced pledge to impeach President Donald Trump in the latest sign that party leaders and rank-and-file lawmakers remain divided on the hot-button issue.
Speaking before a reception held by far-left advocacy group MoveOn.org Thursday evening, Tlaib pledged to remove President Trump from the White House, telling the raucous crowd, “[W]e’re going to go in there, and we’re going to impeach the motherfucker.”
Democrat lawmakers expressed concern Friday that the Michigan Democrat’s explosive statement further politizes impeachment, which some have argued should be left off the table until special counsel Robert Mueller concludes his investigation into purported collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 presidential election.
“Mueller hasn’t even produced his report yet!” said Rep. Ron Kind (D-WS), according to Politico. “People should cool their jets a little bit, let the prosecutors do their job and finish the investigation.”
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the newly minted House Oversight and Reform Committee chairman, said the lawmaker’s pledge is “inappropriate” and called on fellow Democrats to exercise patience. “You can’t accomplish very much of anything unless you have civility and show respect for your colleagues,” he said. “Those kinds of comments do not take us in the right direction.”
However, not all Democrat leaders were as direct in their criticism of Tlaib. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that while she does not condone the freshman lawmaker’s language, the blowback from the comment is a result of sexism.
I don’t think any “should make a big deal” of the remark, she told MSNBC host Joy Reid during a town hall Friday. “I’m not in the censorship business. I don’t like that language, I wouldn’t use that language, but I wouldn’t establish language standards for my colleagues,” she added.
Tlaib’s remark even drew criticism from Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), who introduced articles of impeachment against the president on Thursday — the first day that Democrats took back the House of Representatives. “That’s not language I would use … I think the office of the presidency should be treated with respect,” he said after regaining composure.
President Trump seemingly addressed Tlaib’s vow Friday morning, writing on Twitter that the Democrats are motivated to seek impeachment because his accomplished record will hurt their party’s prospects of reclaiming the White House in 2020.
“As I have stated many times, if the Democrats take over the House or Senate, there will be disruption to the Financial Markets,” the president tweeted. “We won the Senate, they won the House. Things will settle down. They only want to impeach me because they know they can’t win in 2020, too much success!”:
As I have stated many times, if the Democrats take over the House or Senate, there will be disruption to the Financial Markets. We won the Senate, they won the House. Things will settle down. They only want to impeach me because they know they can’t win in 2020, too much success!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2019
“How do you impeach a president who has won perhaps the greatest election of all time, done nothing wrong (no Collusion with Russia, it was the Dems that Colluded), had the most successful first two years of any president, and is the most popular Republican in party history 93%?” he then asked his nearly 57 million Twitter followers:
How do you impeach a president who has won perhaps the greatest election of all time, done nothing wrong (no Collusion with Russia, it was the Dems that Colluded), had the most successful first two years of any president, and is the most popular Republican in party history 93%?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2019
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