Joy Reid Tells Democrats That America Can’t Afford To Wait Until 2020 To Hold Trump Accountable

Even after the Mueller report detailed damning evidence of criminal conduct by Donald Trump, some Democrats continue to fear the politics of impeachment.

Instead, most in the party continue to be cautious when discussing the issue, claiming they need to hold more hearings and oversight before deciding whether to go all in.

On Monday night, MSNBC’s Joy Reid made the case that there has never been a more necessary time for members of Congress to use the impeachment process to hold a president accountable.

“Only Congress can really hold the president accountable for alleged wrongdoing, and the only way the Constitution gives the Congress to do that is impeachment,” the MSNBC host said.

Video:

Joy Reid said:

The election process was not foreseen in the Constitution as a process by which a president who has ongoing wrongdoing is held accountable, right? He’s either elected or he’s not. That’s the people’s job. Only Congress can really hold the president accountable for alleged wrongdoing, and the only way the Constitution gives the Congress to do that is impeachment. Just having hearings, how is that accountability?

Democrats shouldn’t act like this is run-of-the-mill oversight

Bringing in Robert Mueller to testify before Congress is a good move. So is conducting more investigations into this president’s potentially criminal behavior, whether or not it’s related to the specific evidence laid out in the special counsel report.

But, as Laurence Tribe pointed out on Monday, none of this congressional activity should be presented to the American people as oversight as usual – because there is nothing normal about what this president has done.

Instead, it should be part of an impeachment inquiry that collects all the facts and ultimately decides whether this president should remain in office.

At the end of the day, the election process was not meant to be the ultimate check on a president who is implicated in criminal activity. That responsibility has been left to Congress, regardless of whether they think it’s good politics.

Democrats should be deliberate and cautious, yes, but they also shouldn’t hesitate to fulfill that responsibility right now.

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Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.

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