U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper on Trump impeachment inquiry: ‘Not even the president is above the law.’ – Tennessean

U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper on Tuesday joined a growing number of Democrats calling for impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, a stance that has spread within the caucus amid reports that the president had urged the Ukranian government to investigate Joe Biden.

The moderate Blue Dog Nashville Democrat released a statement declaring that “it’s time” for the House of Representatives to begin the impeachment process against Trump.

His announcement came ahead of one by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who declared that House Democrats were moving forward with a formal impeachment inquiry against Trump. Pelosi for months had resisted calling for impeachment.

“The President’s invitation to yet another foreign power — this time Ukraine — to undermine U.S. elections requires that Congress begin the process in our Constitution to levy formal charges against him,” Cooper said.

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“This is a very serious step, but the President’s continuing misconduct requires that Congress uphold our Constitution and the laws of the land. No one, not even the President, is above the law.”

A whistleblower in the federal government filed a complaint over a phone call Trump made in July to Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky, encouraging him to investigate the former vice president’s son Hunter Biden and his business dealings in the Ukraine.

Joe Biden is currently the front-runner among Democrats campaigning for the 2020 presidential nomination.

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis, the only other Democrat in Tennessee’s congressional delegation, has long been a supporter of impeachment against Trump. He affirmed Pelosi’s decision on Tuesday.

Cohen joined five other House Democrat in filing articles of impeachment against Trump in 2017, citing at the time the president’s “train of injuries to our Constitution,” and has continually supported the measure.

“Today is a historic day for our nation,” Cohen said Tuesday. “The President has breached his oath, violated the law and risked our national security. This week we learned that the President has abused his power and broken the law by pressuring a foreign government to investigate a political opponent. 

“We will thoroughly investigate the President’s conduct and pursue the facts. We are a nation of laws and no one is above the law.”

While recent polls show that most Americans have been opposed to impeaching Trump, more than half of Democrats in the House are in favor of beginning the process of ousting the president.

The House would need 218 votes to approve articles of impeachment, requiring all but 18 members of the Democratic Caucus to vote in favor of the measure if all Republicans are opposed.

Cooper is a member of the House Democrats’ Blue Dog Coalition, a small caucus of centrist congressmen focused on fiscal responsibility.

Though Cooper has criticized the president on policy matters, in a January interview with David Plazas, opinion editor of USA TODAY Network – Tennessee, the congressman was not prepared to call for impeachment proceedings, saying the measure “accomplishes nothing.”

“Democrats should have a particular memory of this with (former President) Bill Clinton because the House impeached him, but there were not the votes in the Senate,” Cooper said. “All that did was increase Bill Clinton’s popularity because he had looked unfairly treated by the Congress.”

Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.

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Published 11:35 AM EDT Sep 25, 2019

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