Impeachment may be a real possibility for Donald Trump

As Democrats start to mull removing Trump for office, a poll finds that voters have Dems' backs

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published May 16, 2017 4:45PM (EDT)

 (AP/Susan Walsh)
(AP/Susan Walsh)

Nearly half of all Americans want to see President Donald Trump get impeached.

A new survey released by Public Policy Polling found that 48 percent of Americans would support impeaching Trump, compared to only 41 percent who would oppose doing so. In similar news, 54 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump's performance as president, compared to only 40 percent who approve of it.

Congress is taking notice of the discontent. Describing Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey and his tweet threatening Comey with hypothetical tapes of their conversations as "obstruction," Rep. Al Green of Texas called for Trump's impeachment, arguing in a statement that "these acts, when combined, amount to intimidation and obstruction."

Green added, "President Trump is not above the law. He has committed an impeachable act and must be charged. To do otherwise would cause some Americans to lose respect for, and obedience to, our societal norms."

When speaking to BuzzFeed, Green said that he was motivated by the fact that impeaching Trump "is the right thing to do. I think this is one of those moments in time [when] you have to take a stand. So I’m taking a stand."

This isn't the first time that a Democratic member of the House of Representatives has called for Trump's impeachment (the proceedings would have to start in that body before being sent to the Senate for conviction or acquittal). Both Reps. Maxine Waters of California and Joaquin Castro of Texas have openly discussed the possibility of impeaching Trump. Waters has called for further investigation into Trump's potentially impeachable offenses, while Castro has specifically cited the possibility that the Trump administration ordered federal agencies to disobey the judiciary when it comes to his travel ban against Muslims.


By Matthew Rozsa

Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer at Salon. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012 and was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022.

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Al Green Donald Trump Russia Vladimir Putin