FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, May 17, 2017

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Chicago, IL –  Today, JB Pritzker released the following statement calling for the U.S. Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.

“Today, I am calling for the U.S. House of Representatives to begin the impeachment process based on credible reports that President Donald Trump has obstructed justice in the investigation of the Russian hacking of our democracy,” said JB Pritzker.  “I understand that calling for impeachment is not something done lightly, but it is an action that I believe is necessary to protect our country’s national security and preserve our democracy.

“With the revelation, backed up by his own Tweets, that President Donald Trump may have disclosed highly classified intelligence to our Russian adversaries and compromised our allies’ ability and desire to share the most sensitive intelligence on ISIS, I feel a grave sense of urgency to get to the bottom of this threat to our democratic process and national security. We do not have months or even weeks to wait for Republicans in the House to consider a discharge petition that names a special prosecutor and independent, bipartisan commission to investigate these allegations. We do not have weeks or months to wait for the U.S. Senate to consider the House process. We do not have weeks or months to wait for that commission and that prosecutor to hire staff to begin the process of determining whether or not the president interfered with, and possibly obstructed, an FBI investigation into his former National Security Advisor.

“The House, with unique constitutional authority and resources, must act in a bipartisan fashion with all care and speed to determine what is fact and what is not before President Trump makes another careless blunder or calculated leak of highly classified information that puts our intelligence personnel, our troops serving in harm’s way, and our citizens at home and abroad at risk. We simply do not have the luxury of time to wait for months or years to determine whether the current President of the United States has committed high crimes and misdemeanors, and if so whether the U.S. Senate should try the case against President Trump.

“Congress has the constitutional authority and a responsibility to serve as a check on our executive branch and they must act now. I call on Republicans and Democrats to come together in this time of crisis. It is time for all of us to put partisan politics aside and put the safety and security of this state and our country first. We must collectively act to preserve our Democracy and restore stability and respect for the rule of law to our Country’s highest office. The House must begin the impeachment process before Donald Trump puts us at risk again.”

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