Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) called Thursday night for President Donald Trump’s impeachment following a primetime address in which the president pressed Congress to pass the SAVE America Act and alleged foreign interference in past U.S. elections.
The Massachusetts Democrat issued his demand in a statement shortly after Trump’s half-hour White House speech, which the president used to promote the stalled election-integrity measure.
“Trump must be impeached for undermining and subverting our free and fair elections,” Markey said in a statement.
During the address, Trump urged the Senate to move on the bill, which would require photo voter ID and proof of citizenship to register in federal elections.
“But most importantly, addressing this crisis of election security demands that Congress must pass the SAVE America Act. How easy is that to do, unless you want to cheat,” Trump said. “The only reason you wouldn’t do it is you want to cheat, because your policies are so bad and your candidates are so pathetic that you can’t get away or can’t get elected any other way.”
Trump said newly declassified documents showed China had meddled in American elections. He added that a Department of Homeland Security review turned up noncitizens on state voter rolls.
Republicans came away from the speech pushing the bill rather than impeachment. Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said it had “never been more crucial to secure our elections,” urging colleagues to “cancel recess” and “use or lose the filibuster.” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) wrote, “This. Only this. Especially now.”
Other Democrats dismissed the address. Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) claimed the address amounted to “a temper tantrum” over a “voter suppression bill.” He argued that Trump offered “no concrete evidence” that foreign actors had changed any election results.
The House passed the SAVE America Act months ago. It remains stuck in the Senate. Republicans have been unwilling to change the chamber’s rules to push it past Democratic opposition.
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