If Congressman Jamie Raskin hadn’t already established himself as a freshman to watch, he definitely did when word got out about one bill that he thinks he will introduce very soon—articles of impeachment against soon-to-be President Trump.
Last weekend, Raskin spoke at an Obamacare rally at Bowie State University. However, he drew the biggest cheers when he said that he may be voting to impeach the Donald very soon. Watch here, via The Young Turks.
Raskin says that he already has grounds for impeachment—the fact that Trump hasn’t even begun to unwind “tens or hundreds of millions of dollars” worth of foreign business interests. He has come to the same conclusion as a number of ethics experts and constitutional law experts from both parties—it would be a flagrant violation of the Emoluments Clause, which bars federal officials from taking gifts from foreign governments.
As we all know, Trump refuses to understand that simply turning over control of his business empire isn’t enough. He has to divest it altogether. Since there’s no chance he’s going to do so, Raskin thinks that “the moment the first conflict comes up, that’s going to look like an impeachable offense.” The odds are pretty good that conflict won’t be long in coming.
Raskin knows what he’s talking about. He’s a constitutional scholar himself; he teaches constitutional law at American University, across the Potomac from his district.
With apologies to Allan Grayson, Raskin just proved that he’s a congressman with guts. I know, I know, he represents a district that would elect a comatose Democrat (D+11!). But consider that he’s a freshman congressman—and from the minority party, no less.
To my mind, when the time comes for Raskin to roll out his impeachment resolution, it’s going to put the GOP in a sticky wicket. Especially the self-described “constitutional conservatives” in the Republican Study Committee, Freedom Caucus, and Conservative Opportunity Society. If this isn’t an impeachable offense, then I don’t want to hear a damn thing about the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky-Paula Jones affair again.
Raskin feels so strongly about this that he’s skipping the inauguration as well.
I like this guy already, and I really hope he runs for higher office someday.