Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) held a press briefing on Wednesday on his articles of impeachment for President Trump.
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00:00so thank you all for showing up on such a short notice the people behind me they
00:10are fighting for this cause they are fighting for impeachment and they all
00:18had like maybe a few hours of notice to come here and I thank them for their
00:24support like I have gotten the support of many of the people across America across
00:32my district I've had 14 in-person town halls I have had tele town halls that
00:42were attended by 11,000 people each time and I've heard it loud and clear people
00:52see this president has conducted impeachable misconduct this president
01:04and his actions have been unconstitutional this presidents has broken the law he has
01:21abused the power of his office multiple times just as we speak here today he is
01:36in Qatar in a foreign country boasting about boasting about a gift that he is
01:52getting a palace like aircraft that he wants to retrofit as Air Force One and
02:08you know think about it think about it a president of the United States going to a foreign country a
02:19country whose Kings and Prince have supported and funded terroristic activities a country that has
02:38business dealings with this president's family whether it's golf courses or hotels there are actual business dealings that are going happening in between the Trump family members and this foreign country now the foreign country wants to give him a 400 million
03:06give him a 400 million dollar gift why are they doing that has anybody wondered they just because they're just nice kind people they're just generous people or they want something in return is this a payment for something and a president going accepting that as if this is normal Mr. President this is a
03:35Mr. President this is not normal this is not how America works this is not how America works this is not what our Constitution works and it's time it's time for one of us somebody you all we all it's time for us to stand up and say this is an impeachable conduct
04:00Congress Congress has the power to impeach the president of the United States
04:07President is not a king we don't have kings we have presidents and they are bound by the oath of office that they take they're bound by the U.S. Constitution
04:29the U.S. Constitution look when I became member of Congress I took an oath to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution so did Mr. Trump and just in the hundred days or so every week we see this president violate his oath
04:58every week we see his acts his talk his actions his executive orders defying the U.S. Constitution when he sent Garcia Kilmer Garcia to El Salvador no due process he has sent
05:27hundreds the hundreds of parking and hundreds of hundreds and hundreds
05:30it afforded them no due process it is the due process is the fundamental pillar of our YOUR
05:42republican news a fundamental pillar of our democracy he has violated so for sake of time I am not going to go through the number of
05:50So for sake of time, I am not going to go through the number of crimes that Donald Trump has committed since day one.
06:03Whether it's bribery, whether it's corruption, taking power from Congress, creating an unlawful office in Doge,
06:12violating First Amendment rights, ignoring due process, and finally refusing to abide by the Supreme Court order, a unanimous Supreme Court order.
06:30He said, I can do it. I can do it. All I have to do is make a phone call, but I won't do it.
06:37But I won't do it. I won't follow the orders of the Supreme Court, is what he said.
06:48I have spoken with Americans all over the country, and they asked me,
06:52what will you do as President Trump continues his unconstitutional activities?
07:00What will you do? What will you do? That's what the question I get asked.
07:07All over the country. That's the question I get asked in Detroit, in Gross Point, in Down River, Detroit, all over the place.
07:16They asked me, what will you do, Congressman?
07:19Mr. President is violating his oath of office.
07:23Mr. President is undoing unconstitutional activities.
07:27What will you do? What will you do?
07:29When he goes and attacks the media who attacks him, he goes and attacks the law firms that prosecuted cases against him.
07:42He goes and makes a deal for free pro bono services from the legal firms as a giveaway or negotiates a deal with these people.
07:58The fact of the matter is, the President has committed crime after crime.
08:03I'm not concerned about whether this is the right time to do this.
08:07You know, many people in my party and elsewhere say, is this the right time to do this?
08:15Is this the right time to do this?
08:18Yes.
08:20I mean, people all over the country are saying, this is the right time to do it.
08:26If not now, when?
08:27People ask me, Congressman Tanithar, are you going to win this vote?
08:37You never know.
08:38You never know.
08:39But, you know, in the history, if we only fought for the causes where we were absolutely sure we are going to win,
08:51we would not have fought for abolition of slavery.
08:57We would not have fought for women's voting rights for women.
09:02We would not have fought for so many changes happened because people stood up.
09:09Because somebody started it, right?
09:12Somebody started it.
09:14A movement.
09:15Somebody started, had a thought.
09:19Felt this is unjust.
09:21Felt we need to go fight this.
09:23And that one person, it just starts with one person.
09:28And then you start getting the support of the other people.
09:32And then it continues.
09:34So those who are asking me, is this the right time to do it?
09:38I say it's never the wrong time to do the right thing.
09:43It's never the, you know.
09:45It's always the right time to do the right thing.
09:49And we stand with the American people as we fight this precedent every day.
09:56Every day, every action that he takes that is unconstitutional, illegal, we are going to stand up and fight this.
10:05Not worrying about the consequences.
10:08Not worrying about what will happen.
10:11Not worrying about the dozens of calls I get, threatening calls I get.
10:17Not worrying about the calls I get at my home.
10:20And unfortunately, my wife, it scares my wife when she takes these calls, you know.
10:24But we can't worry about this intimidation.
10:30This precedent, after I filed these articles, came to my state and called me a lunatic.
10:40The very two days later, I was tired.
10:45I had worked all day and I was sleeping.
10:47I had a nice nine-hour sleep that day.
10:50But Mr. President apparently was awake at midnight.
10:54And he tweeted a long tweet asking Congress and the Speaker to expel me from the United States Congress.
11:06So is there intimidation here?
11:08There will be, there will be, there will be intimidation.
11:14And there will be people who would say this is not politically right.
11:18There will be people that would say the polls is telling us otherwise.
11:23Mr. Congressman, don't act.
11:25We're going to hear all of that.
11:27We're going to hear all of that.
11:29We're going to hear a ton of reasons why not to hold this president accountable.
11:35We're going to hear a ton of reasons from both sides of the aisle.
11:40But we are going to press ahead because we believe this is the right thing to do.
11:45We believe this is absolutely the right time.
11:49This is absolutely the right thing to do.
11:51And it is not too soon to ensure that this president, you know, hears our concerns.
12:01This president hears American people's concerns.
12:04So we are going to be fighting this president in the United States courts when he does illegal, unconstitutional executive orders.
12:14We are going to do that.
12:15We continue to do that.
12:16We have a number of wins.
12:18The courts have asked him to reverse many of his actions.
12:21So we'll continue to do that.
12:23We're going to continue to fight him in the United States Congress.
12:27Legislatively, we're going to do this.
12:29Look, we're going to keep doing this.
12:31We're going to keep doing this.
12:32Will I succeed this week?
12:34Maybe not.
12:35But we'll continue to do this until we have a victory.
12:39Right.
12:40We'll continue to fight until we have a victory, until we remove this president from office for his unconstitutional, illegal, impeachable misconduct.
12:54We are going to continue.
12:56We're not going to give up.
12:57We're not going to give up for any kind of pressure to do that.
13:00And we are going to work with the people of the United States because the truth still matters.
13:10The truth still matters.
13:11And I'm going to ask and appeal to my colleagues on the Democratic side to stand behind me in supporting.
13:21I have not heard a single member of Congress from the Democratic side tell me that this president has not done impeachable conduct.
13:36Not one, not one person, not one member of Congress from the Democratic side had told me,
13:42Shri, you know, this is not, this is Watergate happening every week.
13:48This is not even questionable.
13:51There is no question in people's mind.
13:53No question in member of Congress's mind that this is, he's doing impeachable activity.
14:00This is not any subtle thing.
14:02It's not like technicalities.
14:05It's a blatant violation of his, an abuse of power, blatant violation of his constitutional duties.
14:15There is, there is no, no doubt about it.
14:17And not a single member of Democratic Party.
14:20You can ask Democratic, even some Democrats have called me lunatic, just like the president has called me lunatic.
14:26But they, they have never said, nobody has said to me, Mr. Tanidar, the seven articles of impeachment that you presented to the U.S. Congress,
14:37they're a piece of shit.
14:39You know, they're, they're not good.
14:40They're, you missed it, missed the point.
14:42You, this, they're not legally right.
14:44They, he didn't do that.
14:46No one says that.
14:47No one has, even Mr. President and his, all his supporters has never come back to me and say,
14:53here are the reasons why each of your article is incorrect.
14:58They have not told me that.
14:59They had, don't have an argument, but they talk about my hair.
15:04They talk about my hair.
15:06They talk about my appearance.
15:09They talk about where I was born.
15:13They talk about everything, my looks.
15:17They talk about my age.
15:19They talk about why I should be deported back to the country where I was born.
15:27They talk about my past business dealings and they distort my business record.
15:34They do everything except telling me that my articles are wrong.
15:41They have not said that.
15:42So I appeal, I would like to see every Democratic member of Congress to support my impeachment bill,
15:56my, my resolution 353.
16:00I appeal to all members of Congress, but particularly I appeal to all members of the Democratic Party
16:10to stand behind me united, stand behind me united to oppose and send a message to this Congress,
16:19to this President.
16:21I also ask my Republican colleagues, a few of them privately talk about the misconduct.
16:31Some of them even publicly are talking about, even the MAGA people are now talking about the plane that he is getting,
16:39the gift that he is getting from Qatar.
16:43You know, these are people who funded terroristic activities.
16:46Some of them may have even funded the 9-11 attack on the United States.
16:51These are not our friends.
16:54But this President is so gullible, he's so naive, you praise him, you give him a gift, and then he is your friend.
17:03He'll do anything for you.
17:05When you go stand up against him, talk about unconstitutional activities, he calls you lunatic.
17:11So that's how he, it's a third grade behavior.
17:15That is how he behaves.
17:16You give him a gift, you speak nice things about him, he'll do anything you want.
17:21But you stand up here and say, Mr. President, you're breaking the law, he will go after you.
17:28He'll go after me, his supporters will go after me.
17:31So that is really what we are doing.
17:33We will continue to march ahead.
17:36We will continue.
17:37I have a lot of pressure to not do this.
17:41I have a lot of pressure to go away.
17:43Don't show up for this vote.
17:45I have a lot of pressure from all sides.
17:47But we cannot back down.
17:52We got to stand firm.
17:54And we got to go ahead with this vote.
17:57And I urge my Democratic colleagues to support me.
18:01I urge my Republican colleagues in Congress.
18:06Think about our country.
18:08Think about the oath of office, Mr. Republican Congress people you took.
18:14Think about your obligation to your constituents.
18:21Think about that.
18:22Think about that.
18:23Just it's not a cult.
18:25You know, we don't have to, you know, obey this president.
18:30When he does illegal, unconstitutional activity, look into your conscience.
18:35Grow a conscience.
18:36That's what I would tell my Republican colleagues.
18:42All I need is a few, maybe four Republicans to look inside their heart.
18:49Look inside in the eyes of their constituents.
18:51And make the right decision.
18:55Make the right decision.
18:57That's all it's going to take to impeach this president.
19:01I will continue to go forward.
19:03Continue to work hard.
19:05And make this happen.
19:06One more point.
19:07One more point before I end.
19:08One more point.
19:10Another argument against impeachment at this time is,
19:17Hey, we have other important things to talk about.
19:21We've got to talk about the $331 billion that Republicans want to cut from the nutritional program.
19:33You know, taking money away from the $6 a day the poor, the hungry get to feed themselves.
19:41And they want to take that money away.
19:43They're chipping at it.
19:44And we've got to protest that.
19:46And yes, we do.
19:47And last night I was at the Agriculture Committee meetings almost till midnight fighting for that.
19:57Talking about why these cuts should not be done.
20:02Why we should not be cutting poor people's nutritional allowance to give tax breaks to the rich.
20:10I'm fighting for that and fighting for that and I'm fighting for the cuts in Medicaid.
20:16They want $880 billion cut from the Medicaid.
20:22You know, what that's going to do is they're going to put 14 million people out of health care.
20:28Out of health care.
20:30People are going to die because of this decision.
20:33Hundreds and thousands of people.
20:35American people are going to die because if this bill passes and they make these cuts, thousands of people are going to not have the food they need to eat because of their Medicaid and their snap cuts.
20:48So, we got to fight that.
20:51But, you know, what I feel is that we have the bandwidth to fight on all of this front.
20:58We don't need to take one fight at a time.
21:01We can fight this administration on all of these.
21:04And that's no reason not to act today on these unconstitutional activities.
21:10Just a hundred and whatever days, this president has violated the Constitution.
21:15He has abused the power and it's never too soon to talk about it.
21:20Thank you all for coming here.
21:22Thank you all for your support.
21:24And we, you give me the energy I need.
21:27My constituents give me the energy that I need.
21:29And when I get attacked from the right wing and the MAGA, I look up to you and I see your support.
21:38I see your love.
21:39And that gets me going.
21:40So, thank you all for showing up.
21:42Woo-hoo!
21:49Are you afraid that this is going to potentially might help the president?
21:53Like give him, might have the opposite effect that you're actually trying to get?
21:57Well, look, I'm not so worried about the consequences.
22:01I'm just focused on doing the right thing.
22:03The question really is, I am not focused on what he will use or not use.
22:11If I don't press for this, he will feel that he has a free pass to continue to violate the Constitution.
22:19So, no matter what, this president will try to take advantage of any situation.
22:27But the right thing to do here is call out for his impeachable conduct.
22:33The right thing to do here is say he has broken the law.
22:37And that's what I'm doing.
22:39Can you tell us a little bit about the group of supporters here today and who's here to support you?
22:44And second, can you talk about your strategy going forward and next steps?
22:49Yes.
22:49Yes.
22:50So, I think our supporters are, there are a couple groups, non-profit groups that are supporting this.
22:57I guess one of the group is Mayday Group, right?
23:01And the other one is...
23:03Some of us are individuals.
23:04And some of them are individuals.
23:06They just came here.
23:07This is a very short notice.
23:09We didn't know about this press conference until less than 20 years ago we planned this.
23:15So, this is a short notice, but they showed up.
23:18But you go to Wyandotte, you know, the other day I was in Wyandotte, Michigan,
23:22and there were 400 people holding signs like this coming and it rally.
23:27It's happening all over America.
23:29People are demanding that this president be held responsible.
23:33My strategy is simple.
23:36I'm going to use every possible means to fight this president, fight his unconscious activities.
23:44This is just one of the many tools.
23:47But I'm sending a message.
23:49I'm sending a message.
23:50This is the start of the movement.
23:52Look, like the Medicare for All.
23:54Do we have the votes to pass that today?
23:56No.
23:56But Bernie Sanders, my friend, Senator Bernie Sanders,
23:59we're talking about Medicare for All for a long time, for decades.
24:03And sometimes it takes a long time when you start a movement to finish that and get a victory.
24:10But we've got to start.
24:12And we've got to start today.
24:14It's not too early to start that.
24:16And that's my strategy.
24:17Has Democratic leadership communicated anything to you, whether to move forward or not?
24:24Well, the leadership really want to not move forward with this.
24:28They want to focus on, and you heard Chair Aguilar has said publicly,
24:33that this is not the time to do it.
24:35So that is the opinion of the leadership, that this is the time for them,
24:41that they want to focus on Medicaid.
24:43They want to focus on the cruel cuts on SNAP and the benefits, nutritional program.
24:51They want to, you know, focus on the budget and the appropriations.
24:59And they want to focus on other issues, which is fine.
25:04And I just tell them that, hey, we can do that, and we can do this as well.
25:15Yes?
25:17He's been impeached before.
25:18It doesn't seem to have changed his behavior, his actions.
25:22What, I know you say you're sending a message, but kind of if,
25:26are you convinced that this will change anything?
25:29Well, we've got to keep trying.
25:30If we don't do anything, he will look at it as a free pass to continue to do.
25:35He is totally unhinged.
25:38He's in his second term.
25:40And he doesn't know that, but it is his last term.
25:45So, right?
25:46And so he's unhinged.
25:49He, so he is even more bolden, he's much more bolder to pursue his unethical, illegal activities.
25:59And if we can go around the country and use this momentum that we now have to fight against this president,
26:10maybe the people, American people, would send him a strong message in November of 2026.
26:16And maybe that will, but this, but we've got to start somewhere to let people, there are, look what happened in Wisconsin.
26:27People send him a strong message.
26:29So the way he continues to fight, he will get a message.
26:32He will continue to get a message.
26:34Already the polls are showing his approval rating is the lowest in the last 70 years of any president in his end of his first 100 days.
26:43So we have multiple ways to send a message.
26:46This is one of the many ways we are doing that.
26:50So, President Trump won 13 House Democrats Congressional Districts in November, came close to winning many more than that.
26:57So you don't have any misgivings about making your Democratic colleagues in battleground districts take this vote.
27:03Well, look, we got to stand.
27:05We got to take a stand.
27:06Look in Congress.
27:07As a member of Congress, we take hard votes every day.
27:14Every day there is a hard vote to take.
27:16That's my job.
27:17That's our job to take a hard vote.
27:19They just need to look into not what plays well politically, not what the polls are saying.
27:27We got to do the right thing.
27:28That's what you sent us to, people sent us to Washington, D.C. to do the right thing.
27:33And we can't worry about that.
27:39We can't worry.
27:40And this is the same problem Republican borderline, frontline people would have.
27:46They have to make those decisions as well.
27:48And it's about time we stand up and say, yes, this president has conducted impeachable offenses or he has not.
27:58And just, you know, we get paid.
28:01We get sent here.
28:02The honor of serving in the United States Congress is that we make tough decisions.
28:07We take tough votes.
28:07And we can't shy away from that.
28:12Yeah.
28:16Well, thank you so much.
28:18Thank you so much.
28:19I appreciate you being here on such a short notice.
28:22If there's any informal questions, I'll be happy to answer.
28:27But, you know, I will continue to focus on my duties to fight the Medicaid.
28:34And right after this, I will be going and spending all day at the Agriculture Committee fighting on the cuts in the SNAP program.
28:43So I am not giving up my fight for saving Medicaid.
28:49I'm not giving up my fight to save Social Security.
28:53I'm not giving up my fight to fight for the SNAP benefits.
28:57I'll continue all of these fights and I'll continue to work hard.
29:01Thank you so much.
29:05Impeach.
29:06Remove.
29:07Impeach.
29:07Remove.