A progressive House Democrat is asking President Trump to resign immediately and allow Vice President Mike Pence, whose views are more conservative than Trump’s, to take over.
“I am convinced that you have committed acts that under our Constitution are grounds for impeachment, but I also hope the nation can avoid the cynicism and division that impeachment would inflict on this country,” said retiring Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., in a letter to Trump. “I think you know what evidence and actions will be uncovered by thorough investigations, and it is indefensible.”
“Your personal disgrace will be temporary. The lasting damage to the United States of bringing us all down with you will last decades, if not longer. Therefore, for the good of the country, I ask that you resign your office immediately,” he wrote.
In a House floor speech, Gutierrez charged that Trump needs to step down because he leads a “vast criminal enterprise.”
Several of Trump’s closest personal and campaign associates have been indicted as the result of ongoing probes into campaign finance violations and tax crimes. The Justice Department initially opened an investigation in 2017 to learn if Trump’s team had worked with Russian officials to win the 2016 presidential election.
[Opinion: Trump doesn’t deserve impeachment (but he should resign)]
The Illinois Democrat said it was Trump’s decision to fire senior law enforcement officials, calling into question the Justice Department, and slander government officials that prompted him to give Trump an ultimatum.
Gutierrez, considered a progressive in comparison to more moderate liberals, said he was willing to let Pence, an ultra-conservative, assume office just to get rid of Trump.
“His policies are clearly damaging to the moral fabric of the American people, but this goes beyond the president’s attacks,” Gutierrez said on the floor.
Although Gutierrez and Pence have disagreed “on almost every issue of importance,” Pence is an “honorable man,” Gutierrez said.
“Even if he is wrong on many, many policy issues, he has a basic sense of right and wrong that is lacking in the current occupant of the office. Therefore, while I do not relish a Pence presidency, at this point, I feel it is an absolute necessity for the good of the country, for the good of our people, and for the good of the world and America’s place in it,” he finished.
