Ocasio-Cortez says Trump’s Georgia call is an impeachable offense

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said Sunday that she thinks President Trump’s call pressuring the Georgia secretary of state to overturn his defeat in the state is an offense that merits impeachment. 

She acknowledged that she hadn’t listened to the entire hourlong recording obtained by The Washington Post but said she believed Trump’s actions warranted sanction.

“I absolutely think it’s an impeachable offense, and if it was up to me, there would be articles on the floor quite quickly, but he, I mean, he is trying to — he is attacking our very election. He’s attacking our very election,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters as the new session of Congress began.

House Democrats voted in December 2019 to impeach Trump, alleging abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in his efforts to pressure the Ukrainian government to open an investigation into President-elect Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

The GOP-controlled Senate voted mostly along party lines in February 2020 to acquit Trump on both counts. 

Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are set to take office on Jan. 20, leaving little time for another impeachment process. House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry began in late September 2019 and concluded about three months later.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who led the impeachment inquiry in 2019, condemned Trump’s actions on Sunday but declined to go as far as advocating for another round of impeachment. 

“I think it is among the most despicable abuses of power of his long list, possibly criminal, morally repugnant, virulently anti-democratic and dangerous to our democracy,” Schiff told reporters. 

Asked if it would be an impeachable offense if there were more time in Trump’s term, Schiff replied, “I would need to think about that, but, you know, if it’s potentially criminal, then it’s potentially impeachable, and even in the absence of a crime, it’s potentially impeachable.” 

One House Democrat, Rep. Hank Johnson (Ga.), said Sunday that he plans to introduce a resolution on Monday to formally censure Trump over the call with Georgia’s secretary of state.

“.@realDonaldTrump’s call to the Ga. SOS was far from ‘perfect.’ In fact, it is a violation of state and federal law. Tomorrow, I will introduce a resolution of Censure. Trump should resign NOW!” Johnson tweeted.

During the hourlong phone call on Saturday, Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn Biden’s 11,779-vote victory in the state. 

“The people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry,” Trump said. “And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated.”

Trump also said during the call, “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”

Raffensperger repeatedly pushed back against Trump during the call and defended the election results, saying, “Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong.”