On July 11, local members of the Puget Sound Communities 4 Impeachment asked the Olympia City Council to adopt a resolution calling on Congress to investigate impeachment of US President Donald Trump. Twenty or more people gathered in front of City Hall, unfurled a banner and waved flags to the enthusiastic honking of commuters on 4th Ave, before moving to the Council Chambers to present their resolution.
Instead of passing the resolution, Council members voted to send a letter via Congressman Denny Heck asking that the House Judiciary Committee to investigate Trump’s “business ties, Russian connections, and actions to impede Federal investigations…” The letter referred to the fact that “the President’s actions have led many to conclude that he has violated “ the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clause and the contract lease provisions of the General Services Administration, and stated that the Council “firmly believes in the Constitution and laws of the United States and insists that no person is above the law.”
Resolutions similar to the one proffered by the Olympia group have been passed in 13 cities. The Olympia group partners with the Impeach Donald Trump Now campaign which is a non-partisan national effort led by Free Speech for People and RootsAction.org. The campaign recently delivered a petition to Congress calling for Donald Trump’s impeachment. As of mid-May, more than a million people had signed this petition.
If Donald Trump were to be impeached, the next in line to serve as President would be Vice-president Mike Pence. Pence, the former governor of Indiana, describes himself as “a Christian, a conservative and a Republican—in that order.” During his tenure as governor of Indiana, he signed into law a bill allowing profit-making corporations (among others) to disobey laws that burdened “their” religious beliefs. He was an early supporter of the Tea Party movement and led the Republican’s crusade in Congress to defund Planned Parenthood. After Pence in succession would be House Speaker Paul Ryan, then Senator Orrin Hatch (R., Utah, age 83), president pro-tem of the Senate. Be careful what you wish for.