Posted on August 24, 2017 (October 3, 2018) Share: The U.S. Constitution provides that “[t]he President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” The Framers of the Constitution entrusted this grave responsibility to Congress, to be used sparingly and only when necessary to protect the republic. Recently, a longtime confidante and sometime campaign advisor to the President, Roger Stone, told TMZ on video that any Member of Congress who chooses to exercise their constitutional authority risks assassination. According to Stone: “Try to impeach him, just try it. You will have a spasm of violence in this country, and insurrection, like you’ve never seen. . . . This is not 1974, the people will not stand for impeachment. A politician who votes for it [impeachment] would be endangering their own life.” (Stone claimed that he was “not advocating violence,” but “predicting it.”) 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. And in this fragile time—just two months after a politically motivated gunman shot four people, including a Member of Congress, and not even two weeks since heavily armed Nazis, neo-Confederates, and white supremacists terrorized the streets of an American city, resulting in the death of a peaceful counter-protester and two law enforcement officers—a threat of violence cannot be hidden beneath the veneer of “predicting” rather than “advocating” assassinations and insurrection. We call upon the President to unequivocally and unconditionally denounce all threats of violence against Congress or members of the public for exercising their constitutional rights. Ron Fein, Legal Director John Bonifaz, President Ben Clements, Board Chair Free Speech For People Kathleen Clark Professor of Law Washington University in St. Louis Justice Fernande (Nan) R.V. Duffly Former Associate Justice Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Legal Advisory Board, ImpeachDonaldTrumpNow.org Noreen Farrell Executive Director Equal Rights Advocates Kate Kendell Executive Director National Center for Lesbian Rights Kim Kruckel Executive Director Child Care Law Center Nancy Leong Associate Professor University of Denver Legal Advisory Board, ImpeachDonaldTrumpNow.org James Nelson Retired Justice Montana Supreme Court Legal Advisory Board, ImpeachDonaldTrumpNow.org Dixon Osburn Executive Director Center for Justice and Accountability Eva Paterson President Equal Justice Society Legal Advisory Board, ImpeachDonaldTrumpNow.org Tamara R. Piety Professor of Law University of Tulsa College of Law Legal Advisory Board, ImpeachDonaldTrumpNow.org Catherine J. Ross Fred C. Stevenson Research Professor of Law George Washington University Law School Legal Advisory Board, ImpeachDonaldTrumpNow.org Steven Shiffrin Professor of Law Cornell University Law School Legal Advisory Board, ImpeachDonaldTrumpNow.org James Gustave Speth Former Dean Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Legal Advisory Board, ImpeachDonaldTrumpNow.org Jennifer Taub Professor Vermont Law School Legal Advisory Board, ImpeachDonaldTrumpNow.org Zephyr Teachout Associate Professor of Law Fordham University Legal Advisory Board, ImpeachDonaldTrumpNow.org Laurence H. Tribe Carl M. Loeb University Professor and Professor of Constitutional Law Harvard Law School Legal Advisory Board, ImpeachDonaldTrumpNow.org