Why Rep. Rick Larsen favors impeaching President Trump

There are a handful of impeachment-level charges for which a president of the United States can be removed from office, such as treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. Congressmember Rick Larsen from Everett believes President Donald Trump’s actions prompt such impeachment proceedings.

“This would fall under high crimes and misdemeanors,” Larsen told the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. “…with regards to impeachment, the Constitution doesn’t actually define what those things are … Congresses have taken the opportunity to define what those are, separate from what is in the law.”

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Essentially, “high crimes and misdemeanors” isn’t technically defined under the law, so Larsen argues that Congress should treat it as a catchall for actions and behavior which lawmakers agree are inappropriate for a president. For Larsen, President Trump’s recent controversy, telling four Congress members to go back to the countries they came from is where the line has been crossed (for the record, three were born in the United States, the fourth immigrated when she was nine and has spent nearly three decades in the country).

“It’s not so much the attack on these four members of Congress specifically,” Larsen said. “It’s his attacks that expose the president, that he doesn’t appreciate or understand, in my view, what citizenship is or the dream of citizenship. And I think a president needs to value that. I have concluded the president doesn’t value that.”

“This is a bridge too far for me,” he added, noting that he previously wasn’t on the impeachment bandwagon with other Democrats.

“I didn’t come to this conclusion because, I believe, the Tweets are racist,” Larsen said. “I don’t believe that is impeachable, myself … it’s not so much what he said and about freedom of expression. In my view, a president has to value citizenship. In my view, this president does not.”

Of course, as the next presidential election nears, the public could likely decide Trump’s fate before Congress can act. Larsen said that shouldn’t matter and there is no reason for Congress not to act now.

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“My argument is that the president, and members of the House and Senate, are always held to a higher standard,” he said. “We are not above the law, but we get to be subject to the law. My understanding of impeachment, is that it was set in there because the House and the Senate, and the founding fathers felt we needed an additional tool to hold presidents accountable. In my view, if a president doesn’t value citizenship, or the dream of citizenship, which he exhibited last week with these attacks … it violates the public trust. I concluded, not gladly, a but sadly that he should be subject to impeachment.”

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