Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., signaled support for impeaching President Donald Trump during a town hall he hosted near Atlanta on Friday, telling attendees that the president’s conduct “has already exceeded any prior standard for impeachment.”
“I mean, I saw just 48 hours ago, he is granting audiences to people who buy his meme coin,” Ossoff said. “When the sitting President of the United States is selling access for what are effectively payments directly to him. There is no question that that rises to the level of an impeachable offense.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday night.
Video of the town hall was made available online by NBC affiliate WXIA. Ossoff, who is currently running for reelection to the U.S. Senate, made the remark in response to an attendee who questioned why Democrats have not moved to impeach Trump, stating her belief that “everything that Trump is doing is leading us down an authoritative rule.”
“Do more. I like you and I will vote for you if you are brave, and you do what we need,” the attendee said. “We need him impeached, we need him removed.”
Ossoff in response said he “strongly” agreed with the attendee, but told the audience that the move is not currently feasible given the current make up of the House of Representatives, which is responsible for introducing articles of impeachment.
“The only way to achieve what you want to achieve is to have a majority United States House of Representatives,” Ossoff said. “And believe me, I’m working on it every single day, every single day.”
The Georgia senator also pointed to what he characterized as Trump’s defiance of a federal court order as another potentially impeachable offense. Ossoff did not specify exactly which case he was referring to, but the remark comes as Democrats accuse Trump of disregarding a Supreme Court order requiring his administration to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native and former Maryland resident deported to El Salvador.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, called Ossoff’s remarks “disgusting,” accusing him of attempting to “overturn the will of Georgia voters who just elected President Trump.”
Ossoff now joins a handful of congressional Democrats who have backed calls to impeach Trump in his second term.
Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who called for Trump’s impeachment several times during his first term and was removed from Trump’s joint address to Congress in March, was the first Democrat this cycle to back the idea.
Additionally, Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., said earlier this month he “fully supports impeaching” Trump, accusing the president of “not abiding by a lawful Supreme Court ruling.”
Trump was impeached twice during his first term, but was acquitted by the Senate following each impeachment trial. Ossoff joined all Democrats in voting Trump “guilty” after Trump’s second impeachment. He was not in Congress during Trump’s first impeachment.
Impeaching Trump again would require the support of a majority of the House and two-thirds of the Senate. Because Republicans currently control both chambers of Congress, the effort is a nonstarter, at least until the midterm election cycle.
But still, the support among Democratic voters for impeachment is reflective of broader calls for the party to more actively and aggressively counter Trump’s agenda, a notion that polling suggests is widespread among the party’s base.
A recent NBC News poll found less than a third of Democrats want their party leaders to make legislative compromises with Trump, while nearly two-thirds would rather congressional Democrats stick to their positions even if that risks sacrificing bipartisan progress.
