In December 2016, Democratic senators
Elizabeth Warren,
Dick Durbin,
Chris Coons,
Ben Cardin, and
Jeff Merkley introduced a bill that would require the
president of the United States to divest any assets that could raise a
conflict of interest, including a statement that failure to divest such assets would constitute
high crimes and misdemeanors "under the impeachment clause of the U.S. Constitution".
[3] Vanity Fair characterized this as a preemptive effort to lay the groundwork for a future impeachment argument.
[3] Concerns had previously been expressed that Trump's extensive business and real estate dealings, especially with respect to government agencies in other countries, may violate the
Foreign Emoluments Clause of the
Constitution,
[4] sparking debate as to whether that is the case.
[11][12]
Immediately after
his inauguration,
The Independent and
The Washington Post each reported on efforts already underway to impeach Trump, based on what the organizers regard as conflicts of interest arising from Trump's ability to use his political position to promote the interests of "Trump"-branded businesses, and ongoing payments by foreign entities to businesses within the Trump business empire as a violation of the Foreign Emoluments Clause.
[1][2] In March 2017, China provisionally granted 38 "Trump" trademark applications set to take permanent effect in 90 days, which were noted to come in close proximity to the president's making policy decisions favorable to China.
[13]
The Washington Post further noted the creation of ImpeachDonaldTrumpNow.org by
Free Speech For People and RootsAction, two liberal advocacy groups.
[2] On February 9, Congressman
Jerrold Nadler (
D,
NY) had filed a
resolution of inquiry titled "
H.Con.Res. 5" to force the Trump administration to turn over documents relating to potential conflicts of interest and to ties with
Russia.
[14] Some sources identified this as the first step in the process of impeaching Trump.
[15][16] Fox News outlined two potential bases for impeachment, one being the Emoluments Clause and the other being complicity with
Russian interference in the 2016 United States presidential election.
[17] On March 21, it was widely reported that Congresswoman
Maxine Waters tweeted "Get ready for impeachment," which Waters explained was in reference to the allegations of collusion with Russian interference in the election.
[18]
On January 17, 2019, new accusations involving Trump surfaced, claiming he instructed his long-time lawyer, Michael Cohen, to lie under oath surrounding Trump's involvement with the Russian government to erect a Trump Tower in Moscow.
[19] This also sparked calls for an investigation and for the president to "resign or be impeached" should such claims be proven genuine.
[20] The
Mueller Report was released on April 18, 2019, and
Robert Mueller himself made follow-up comments on May 29. The report reached no conclusion about whether Trump had or had not committed criminal obstruction of justice.
[21] Mueller strongly hinted that it was up to Congress to make such a determination. Congressional support for an impeachment inquiry increased as a result.
[22]
