Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has stopped short of vowing to pursue articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump if Democrats retake the majority in Congress, a proposal that is gathering traction on the Left.
Promises of further impeachment accusations could become a campaign tool for Democrats in next year’s congressional elections, but Schumer is not lending his support right now.
During a Sunday interview on CNN’s State of the Union, the New York senator was questioned about comments made by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) just days before.
During a local town hall meeting, Ossoff told voters that he strongly supports impeaching Trump again. However, he admitted that it would be impossible until Democrats retook the House of Representatives in the November elections.
“There is no doubt that this president’s conduct has already exceeded any prior standard for impeachment by the United States House of Representatives,” according to Ossoff.
“I agree with you, but as I said at the beginning, I also have no choice but to be candid with you about the situation that we face and the tools that are at our disposal,” he remarked afterwards. “As strongly as I agree with you, madam — and I regret if this is an unwelcome response, but my job is to be honest with you — the only way to achieve what you want to achieve is to have a majority in the United States House of Representatives.”
When asked whether he agreed with Ossoff’s views, Schumer told host Dana Bash that he believes the president is “violating the rule of law in every way.”
However, the minority leader did not expressly condemn the president’s acts as impeachable.
“We fight him every day, in every way. And our purpose is to again demonstrate to the American people how horrible he is on the economy, tariffs, Russia and the rest of the world, and the rule of law,” Schumer stated.
He went on to remark that the midterm elections are “too far away” to anticipate what the party will do if it regains the majority.
“It is too far away to even judge,” Schumer remarked.
Schumer’s remarks follow criticism from his Democratic colleagues earlier this year for not taking a harder position against the president and Republicans in Congress.
Schumer was mostly chastised for assisting Republicans in passing their stopgap funding measure, which prevented a government shutdown. The minority leader received countless requests to resign from his leadership position.
Ossoff is not alone in his support for impeachment charges; numerous Democrats in the House have advocated for Trump’s impeachment in recent weeks.
Rep. Al Green (D-TX) attacked the president on the House floor earlier this month, saying Democrats must have “the will” to impeach and remove Trump from office.
Others who have indicated support for impeachment include Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Shri Thanedar (D-MI), Kevin Mullin (D-CA), and Dwight Evans (D-PA).
Citizens’ Impeachment, a volunteer-run organization, has been counting the number of lawmakers who have expressed support for impeaching President Trump. The group counts 16 Democrats in support and 11 Republicans opposed. More than 400 have been marked as “no comment.”
During Trump’s first term in office, a Democratic-led House impeached him twice. However, he was later acquitted in both cases by the Senate, which failed to obtain the needed two-thirds majority for conviction and dismissal.