Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) announced that he would be boycotting the State Of The Union, as he demanded impeachment hearings for Trump who he called, “unworthy of the podium, the position, and the power.”
In a statement provided to PoliticusUSA, Rep. Cohen said:
I’ve spent 38 years in elected public office, helping make government work and speaking out against corruption because I believe, as President John F. Kennedy believed, that politics is an honorable profession. The current President is the antithesis of that sensibility: a man who appears determined to tear government down, harm the most vulnerable, benefit the rich and destroy foundational institutions such as the Department of Justice and the FBI.
The President is unworthy of the podium, the position, and the power.
For that reason, I will be joining Rep. John Lewis and ten of my colleagues in boycotting Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress tonight, instead flying home to my district to hear the last of it, and the Democratic response by Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy III.
I believe the House of Representatives should hold hearings on whether the President should be impeached for obstruction of justice, violations of the Constitution’s emoluments clauses and for damaging the independent judiciary and free press, bulwarks against authoritarianism. That’s why I introduced H. Res. 621, the impeachment resolution, which is gaining momentum.
The man now in the White House, best known for rash and reckless tweets and vulgar, racist dog whistles, will communicate his calumnies just as well without my attendance, and I trust my constituents – who have been harmed by this President’s policies and rhetoric — understand my action.
Rep. Cohen is the 11th House Democrat to boycott the State Of The Union, but he has by far offered the strongest statement on impeachment. Republicans can shrug off the Democratic boycott in 2018, but it is going to be a different story if Cohen and other Democrats get to call for impeachment as members of the House majority in January 2019.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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