WASHINGTON – A California Democrat filed an article of impeachment against President Donald Trump Wednesday in a longshot bid to remove the president from office.
Democratic leaders have distanced themselves from the efforts to impeach Trump, believing it serves only to energize the president's supporters. Rep. Brad Sherman's resolution has one co-sponsor, fellow Democrat Al Green of Texas.
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On May 17, Green tweeted "a call for the Impeachment of the President" Donald Trump.
Today on the floor of the Congress of the United States of America, I will call for the Impeachment of the President between 9am & 10am CST.
— Congressman Al Green (@RepAlGreen) May 17, 2017
Sherman accuses Trump of obstructing investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, in part by firing former FBI Director James Comey.
Sherman acknowledges that filing the article is "the first step on a very long road."
"But if the impulsive incompetency continues, then eventually -- many, many months from now -- Republicans will join the impeachment effort," Sherman said in a statement.
The effort has little chance of success in the Republican-led House. Sherman doesn't even have the backing of many fellow Democrats.
Sherman filed the article a day after the president's son, Donald Trump Jr., acknowledged that he met with a Russian lawyer during the campaign. The lawyer promised damaging information from the Russian government about Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Trump Jr. said he received no information about Clinton at the meeting.
The president has questioned his own intelligence agencies and whether the Russians actually interfered in the election. However, federal authorities say they have definitive evidence that the Kremlin meddled in the U.S. presidential election.
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