BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH | Several hundred protestors gathered in Lower Manhattan’s Foley Square Saturday afternoon as part of national day of action to call for an impeachment inquiry of President Trump. More than 1oo cities nationwide held similar demonstrations.
The rally was organized by a coalition including Empire State Indivisible, Need to Impeach, Indivisible Nation BD, Black Lives Matter Greater New York, CREDO Mobile, By the People, The New York Immigrant Coalition and more. Speaking at the rally were representatives of these groups and politicians, including Congressmember Carolyn Maloney, whose district covers the East Village, part of the Lower East Side, a bit of the Village, Midtown, the Upper East Side, parts of Queens, the Bronx and Brooklyn, and Roosevelt Island, Randall’s and Wards islands.
“After carefully reviewing evidence laid out in the Mueller Report, after attending numerous hearings, after listening to the concerns of my constituents and after a good deal of soul searching, I have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to open a formal impeachment inquiry concerning the president of the United States,” Maloney said early on during the rally. The sign-waving anti-Trump demonstrators erupted in cheers.
The congressmember added that what pushed her to publicly call for an impeachment inquiry was President Trump’s recent admission to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he would accept negative information on a political opponent during his 2020 re-election campaign.
“If somebody called from a country, Norway, ‘We have information on your opponent,’ I think I’d want to hear it,” Trump declared during the interview .
Other speakers, including former New York Congressmember Elizabeth Holtzman, added that there were “other grounds for impeachment for Donald Trump.”
Among some of those others mentioned were the continued separation of immigrant children from parents at the nation’s southern border, sexist remarks made during the his 2016 presidential campaign, a lack of basic knowledge of the Constitution and abuse of executive privilege.
During the rally a small group of pro-Trump counterdemonstrators were present, but held their position, as well as members of the Revolutionary Communist Party (Revcom). One Revcom member, Davis Parker, speaking through a handheld loudspeaker, interrupted a speech to tell attendees that it not just President Trump that is corrupt, but the entire American political system.
“People think they are woke in this society but the reality is they are sleepwalking through a nightmare,” Parker proclaimed.
Protesters were hopeful that the gathering at Foley Square would apply pressure on Democrats in Congress, particularly House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to begin impeachment proceedings.
“He needed to be impeached yesterday,” said protester Monique Ann Gaylor. “I cannot tell you my lack of understanding as to why Pelosi is not moving.”
Despite a growing number of Democratic voters who support impeachment, Pelosi has held a firm anti-impeachment position, stating that going down that road would only divide the country. According to The Washington Post, lawmakers’ reluctance to oppose Pelosi has also undermined the increasing calls for impeachment.
But Hotlzman, who served on the House Judiciary Committee during Nixon’s impeachment inquiry, said that a Trump impeachment inquiry would actually have the opposite effect.
“There are some who say, let’s not start an impeachment inquiry because it divides the country,” she said. “It united us as Americans because what we said was that more important than anything is the rule of law.”
