Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) argues in a new op-ed for NBC News that Congress must launch impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump “immediately.”
The former Democratic presidential candidate, who dropped out of the 2020 race earlier this month, wrote in the opinion article published Friday morning that former special counsel Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony this week has “left us with no other rational course of action.”
“Doing so isn’t about partisan advantage in 2020; it’s not even about Trump,” Swalwell wrote in the piece, titled “It’s time for Trump’s impeachment. Mueller’s report gave us everything we need.”
“Impeaching him is about protecting America,” he added.
Swalwell noted that Mueller “told us in no uncertain terms that Trump has not been exonerated of obstruction of justice: He found evidence of abuses of power by the president, and said the president could be indicted for obstruction after he leaves office.”
Mueller’s testimony “laid bare” Trump’s “disdain for the rule of law,” and it’s time for Congress “to step up and exercise its constitutional duty,” he contended.
“We must stop this lawless president from tearing down our democracy,” Swalwell concluded. “We must show future presidents that this kind of behavior won’t go unchecked. And we must protect the America and the Constitution we all swore an oath to serve.”
Swalwell in June joined a growing number of House members calling for the initiation of impeachment proceedings against Trump, after the president admitted he would again accept dirt on political rivals from foreign powers.
“Congress has no choice,” Swalwell wrote on Twitter at the time.
“Even if the effort to remove him comes up short in the Senate, showing a willingness to hold a lawless president accountable may be the only way to save our democracy,” he added in an op-ed for The Atlantic.