Today, North Carolina Congressman David Price joined a slowly growing list of U.S. House members who are calling for the start of a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.
The veteran lawmaker, who has represented the state’s 4th District for decades, says the inquiry will give greater weight to a battery of ongoing investigations into the president’s alleged wrongdoings, including multiple counts of obstruction of justice from the report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and violations of the emoluments clause.
“I believe that the House of Representatives must move forward with an impeachment inquiry regarding the conduct of President Donald Trump,” Price stated in a press release today. “This will build upon the investigations of the President’s grave offenses already underway, giving these inquiries focus and the maximum ability to obtain information in the face of the president’s stonewalling and resistance.”
Price’s fellow North Carolina House members G.K. Butterfield and Alma Adams voiced their support for an impeachment inquiry in May.
There are now 121 of the 235 Democrats in the U.S. House who support an impeachment inquiry. Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, a former Republican who turned independent, has also called for an impeachment inquiry, bringing the total to 122.
Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from New York who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, alerted the national media last week that his panel was already conducting formal impeachment proceedings. Nadler said judiciary committee members would recommend articles of impeachment by year’s end if the courts grant them access to Mueller’s grand jury evidence and compel former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify about the alleged obstruction of justice by the president.
Price, who serves as chairman of the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Appropriations subcommittee, questioned Trump’s abuse of power and pointed to his fellow lawmakers’ responsibility of Constitutional oversight.
“In framing our constitution, the founders envisioned a system where no individual or branch of government could wield absolute, unchecked power,” Price stated. “A critical check, to be exercised carefully and judiciously, is the House’s power of impeachment in the event of presidential behavior that grossly abuses power or threatens the foundations of our republic. For the past two and a half years we have watched with growing alarm as President Trump has attacked and defied our democratic institutions, shown cynical contempt for the truth, repeatedly assailed the free press and those charged with upholding the rule of law, and asserted a constitutional right ‘to do whatever I want as president.'”
Price pointed to investigations launched by House committees since January—and the Mueller Report—that “revealed a presidential campaign that welcomed and encouraged foreign interference in the 2016 election, a president who has repeatedly attempted to obstruct or discredit investigations of that interference, and a president who, with his family, has shown utter disregard for the emoluments clause, leading to pervasive conflicts of interest.”
“Mueller’s recent testimony added weight to many of these findings,” Price added, “but we still have facts to unearth. With President Trump blocking access to critical documents and to the testimony of key executive branch officials, we have reached a critical juncture.”
Price was not available for comment Tuesday afternoon.
tmcdonald@indyweek.com
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