At least four cities have started similar efforts
Since President Donald Trump took office in January, petitions have popped up all over the internet, including this one from ImpeachTrumpNow.org, which has nearly 1 million signatures, calling for an impeachment to end his presidency. Now, the movement is getting official recognition from the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
On Monday, the Cambridge City Council voted to call upon the U.S. House of Representatives to approve an investigation into the possibility of impeaching President Trump, the The Boston Globe reported.
The proposal, submitted by the community organization Cambridge Area Stronger Together, or CAST, stated:
"...the City Council call upon the United States House of Representatives to support a resolution authorizing and directing the House Committee on the Judiciary to investigate whether sufficient grounds exist for the impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, including but not limited to the violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause and the Domestic Emoluments Clause of the United States Constitution. On January 11, 2017, nine days before his inauguration, Donald J. Trump announced a plan that would, if carried out, remove him from day-to-day operations of his businesses, but not eliminate any of the ongoing flow of emoluments from foreign governments, state governments, or the United States government; and on January 20, 2017, Donald J. Trump took the oath of office and became President of the United States."
Seven of Cambridge’s city councilors voted in favor of a proposal, one voted against, and one simply voted present.
Now, the proposal will be sent on behalf of the Cambridge City Council to the U.S. representatives who serve Cambridge, The Boston Globe added.
But don’t get your hopes up just yet for a Trump impeachment trial. As ABC News reported, the measure is largely symbolic and follows similar impeachment calls by other city councils, including Richmond, Virginia; Berkeley, California; and Alameda, California.
As noted in the Cambridge proposal, the signees would like the U.S. government to specifically investigate “the Foreign Emoluments Clause and the Domestic Emoluments Clause of the United States Constitution.” This resolution, according to The Washington Times, refers to one that prohibits the president from profiting from certain sources of income other than his presidential salary while serving in the White House.
President Trump did in fact sign a letter resigning from all 400 of his companies. It simply read, "I, Donald Trump, hereby resign from each and every office and position I hold in the entities listed."
However, this brief resignation doesn’t stop him from profiting from said entities and pulling funds from them whenever he pleases. As ProPublica reported, on February 10, an unreported change was made to the trust document stipulating that it “shall distribute net income or principal to Donald J. Trump at his request.” The only people who will ever know if, when, and how much he pulls from the trust are President Trump, Trump’s son, Donald Jr., and Allen Weisselberg, the company’s chief financial officer.
Share on Facebook
