October 8, 2019
U.S. Rep Adriano Espaillat held an Impeachment Forum on Monday night at Fort Washington Collegiate Church on West 181 Street. About a hundred community residents came out to hear him, By the People Executive Director Alexandra Flores-Quilty, and former U.S. Rep Elizabeth Holtzman hold forth on the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
“I’ve for a long time believed Trump has been unfit for office. New Yorkers knew who he was, how he treated tenants, workers,” Espaillat explained. “On November 15, 2017 six of us called for impeachment of Trump.” Now, two years later over 200 House Ds publicly have supported opening an impeachment inquiry.
U.S. Rep Adriano Espaillat
Amid recent developments concerning a whistle blower and military aid to Ukraine, “it’s not just about Democracy but it’s about National Security too,” he added. The 2017 call for impeachment was based on 5 Articles, Espaillat said: Obstruction of Justice, Foreign Emoluments, Domestic Emoluments, Undermining Federal Judiciary and Rule of Law, and Undermining Freedom of the Press.
Former U.S. Rep Elizabeth Holtzman
But while Espaillat‘s association with the cause goes back two years, the next speaker could cite her impeachment bona fides from more than four decades ago. Former Rep Elizabeth Holtzman was in Congress when Nixon faced possible impeachment over the Watergate scandal. The process consists of impeachment by the House of Reps then a trial in the Senate presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. None of that happened to Nixon, she explained, because he resigned first.
Holtzman delivered the best line of the night when she remarked that people say Trump’s never read the Constitution. She thinks he also hasn’t read Nixon’s Articles of Impeachment. Because if he had, she said, he’d recognize that Nixon also tried to use assets of the government to cover up a crime and obstruct justice. “The 1st Article had to do with his efforts to stop the investigation of the Watergate break in.”
By the People Executive Director Alexandra Flores-Quilty
By the People‘s grassroots campaign to impeach Trump is calling a march on Sunday, October 13. Executive Director Alexandra Flores-Quilty said, “the rules always apply to us. But then there’s those – the rich, the powerful – to whom they never apply.” The most important thing, Flores-Quilty explained, is everyday people taking action. Being visible, keeping impeachment front and center. The October 13 mobilization will take place in multiple locations across the country. The one here begins at 1PM in Times Square.