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Democratic lawmaker to file articles of impeachment over Trump's Charlottesville response

August 17, 2017

Rep. Steve Cohen announced Thursday that he would introduce articles of impeachment against President Trump following the president's comments about the violent attacks in Charlottesville, Va., saying the president had "failed the presidential test of moral leadership."

"As a Jew and as an American and as a representative of an African American district, I am revolted by the fact that the President of the United States couldn't stand up and unequivocally condemn Nazis who want to kill Jews and whose predecessors murdered 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, and could not unequivocally condemn Klansmen whose organization is dedicated to terrorizing African Americans," the Tennessee Democrat said in a statement.

Cohen wouldn't be the first Democratic lawmaker to formally call for impeaching and removing the president from office. Last month, Rep. Brad Sherman of California, joined by Rep. Al Green of Texas, introduced articles of impeachment over alleged interference in the FBI investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Still, while criticism of the president over his Charlottesville response has poured out from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, any resolution to impeach Trump would need support from the House's Republican majority to move forward.

Cohen attacked the president's comments that blamed the violence on both left-wing protesters and white supremacists.

"Instead of unequivocally condemning hateful actions by neo-Nazis, white nationalists and Klansmen following a national tragedy, the president said, 'There were very fine people on both sides," Cohen said in a statement. "There are no good Nazis. There are no good Klansmen."

Cohen also said the protests in Charlottesville reminded him of Kristallnacht, the riots in which Nazis targeted Jews.

"It appeared that the Charlottesville protesters were chanting 'Jews will not replace us' and 'blood and soil,' an infamous Nazi slogan, as they marched with torches and conjured up images of Klan rallies," he said. "None of the marchers spewing such verbiage could be considered 'very fine people' as the president suggested."

He noted that at least one white nationalist protester had verbally attacked Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and adviser. Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, are Jewish.