Leadership must be held accountable

Nancy Pelosi/Donald Trump, from Shutterstock

Our Constitution states that the President, Vice President, and civil officers can be impeached for the bribery, treason, and other high crimes and misdemeanors. The US House of Representatives investigates such charges and represents an important check on the President to prevent our country from sliding into tyranny. These are important components of our democracy to prevent abuse and power hoarding.

After careful review of the report release yesterday by the U.S. House of Representative Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I fully support the Speaker of the House directing that articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump proceed. It simply cannot be tolerated that funds legally allocated by Congress be manipulated for domestic political and personal purposes of the president. Such actions are not only improper, but put US national security at risk, which is unacceptable.

Furthermore, it is imperative for our democracy that we follow both the letter of the law and the rules and procedures set up to make our government work. Through the impeachment investigation, again and again the president demonstrated his wanton disregard for our democratic and legal processes. Without these we cannot have the freedom America affords us. This makes the president and his actions a threat to us all.