Free Speech For People issued a letter today to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary urging Chairman Nadler and Vice Chairwoman Scanlon to convene an impeachment inquiry immediately to investigate whether to recommend articles of impeachment against President Donald J. Trump for counseling, commanding, inducing or inciting violence and murder. 

In response to major protests in Minneapolis and other American cities following the police killing of an unarmed black civilian named George Floyd, President Trump today issued the following public statement via Twitter: “These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!”  Shortly after Governor Tim Walz signed an executive order activating five hundred members of the state National Guard, Trump followed up on his announcement with a tweet stating that “The National Guard has arrived on the scene. They are in Minneapolis and fully prepared.”

In the letter, the Constitutional and legal experts at Free Speech For People argue: 

“President Trump’s tweets amount to an incitement of unlawful violence. He has counseled, commanded, induced, or procured the commission of a federal offense.  He has violated his responsibilities under the United States Constitution and the laws of this country. He has counseled the execution of civilians for committing property offenses—indeed, for being found near sites where others may be committing property offenses. He has sanctioned state-sponsored violence against protesters who themselves are protesting the use of lethal force by law enforcement.” 

“The U.S. Constitution requires that the President “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”  Trump is doing the opposite. He is ordering civilians to be shot in the streets.”

“We are of course aware that the presidential general election is just five months away. But there is no “several months before election” exception to the impeachment power of Congress. Indeed, if Congress were to adopt an unofficial rule against impeachment in the last few months before an election, an incumbent president determined to abuse his office—such as Trump—would be unleashed to commit autocratic abuses of power to protect his political prospects without fear of consequence.”

Read the full letter here.