Following Roger Stone‘s shockingly predictable comments about politicians being subject to potential death should they vote to impeach President Donald Trump–and his additional prediction about widespread spasms of violence and insurrection–a group of legal minds has issued a sternly-worded statement calling the proud Richard M. Nixon fanboy out.
In that statement, released moments ago, Free Speech for Free People, part of the Impeach Donald Trump Now campaign said:
We unequivocally condemn these threats of violence. The Constitution entrusts the question of impeachment to Congress, and no one should threaten Members of Congress, or anyone else, with assassinations, insurrection, or any other form of violence for peacefully and lawfully advocating for (or against) use of the grave power that the Founders granted to Congress. It is never acceptable to threaten violence against Members of Congress for exercising constitutional authority, or members of the public for advocating that Members of Congress exercise that authority.
The statement, dripping with nostalgia for the Rule of Law, framed its signers as defenders of the U.S. Constitution and harkened back to the Framers’ intent for impeachment to be an effective remedy “when necessary to protect the republic.”
Signed by septuagenarian liberal heavyweight Laurence Tribe and one-time progressive superstar Zephyr Teachout (who has since traded away most of her left-wing luster after being subsumed by New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo–who she once mounted a robust but failed primary challenge against), the statement also calls on President Trump to “denounce all threats of violence against Congress or members of the public for exercising their constitutional rights.”
That’s unlikely, of course, but at least they’ll feel better about having been so polite about it.
For the full statement, see here.
[image via screengrab]
Follow Colin Kalmbacher on Twitter: @colinkalmbacher
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
