The escalating abuse of presidential powers and continued stonewalling by the White House have necessitated the launch of a formal impeachment inquiry by the House of Representatives and Common Cause continues to support such an investigation. Americans deserve to know the truth whether President Trump has committed high crimes and misdemeanors, as well as abuses of power. And as Americans we deserve the system of co-equal branches of government enshrined in the United States Constitution. A formal impeachment investigation is required to safeguard the coequal status of the branches of our government and ensure that Congress is able to conduct its oversight responsibilities.

It is encouraging that members of both parties on the Senate Intelligence Committee have come together to seek the truth about President Trump pressuring the Ukrainian President to investigate a political rival. But it is long past time for congressional Republicans in both the House and the Senate to put their country before their party and curb the escalating abuses of power by President Trump.

The Impeachment inquiry proceedings should proceed deliberatively and expeditiously and as publicly as possible. The inquiry needs dedicated staffing and resources in its pursuit of the truth. The administration must allow witnesses to testify and turn over all evidence requested in the inquiry. Continued stonewalling and erroneous claims of executive privilege must not be tolerated by any Member of Congress.

In the face of the President’s ongoing abuse of his powers of office, yesterday Common Cause filed a formal complaint with the Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission alleging that President Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and other political operatives illegally solicited a political contribution from a foreign national—by urging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials to investigate Hunter Biden and 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden.

In recent months Common Cause has mobilized its 1.2 million members to help drive additional Member support for an impeachment inquiry in the U.S. House of Representatives. Common Cause initially called for the investigation on July 24, sending a report to every member of the House, making the case, and stressing the need, for the impeachment inquiry. Simultaneously we launched a website ImpeachmentInquiry.org to track Representatives’ positions on the impeachment inquiry and to facilitate public outreach to House Members to urge them to support such an investigation.

To read Common Cause’s DOJ and FEC complaints, click here.

To view the ImpeachmentInquiry.org website, click here.

To view the full Common Cause impeachment inquiry report to Congress, click here.