Congresswoman Maxine Waters Believes Donald Trump Should Be Impeached

Congresswoman Maxine Waters is entering her 27th year as a Democratic U.S. Representative, and her fifth year serving California's 43rd district. She has served under five different presidents, while amassing an impressive track record as an impassioned and relentless advocate for the issues she believes in, from fighting apartheid to opposing mandatory minimum sentencing. Her latest battle: resisting Donald Trump.

While some politicians who outrightly criticized Donald Trump have now made inroads to connect with him and support his presidency, Congresswoman Waters has made her stance clear from election day onwards, and she has not deviated one bit.

On January 31, she introduced a bill demanding an investigation into Trump and his cabinet's ties into Russia. The bill calls for investigation into any people that are associated with Trump and the Russian government. In a press conference regarding the bill, Waters directly called out Russian President Vladimir Putin. She said, "In just under two weeks, Donald Trump has unnerved our allies, challenged our values, and brought so much instability and chaos to our country. This chaos is sure to please at least one person – Vladimir Putin." She went on to name specific members of Trump's cabinet as worthy of investigation, including but not limited to Wilbur Ross, Michael Flynn, and Rex Tillerson.

We spoke with Congresswoman Waters to learn more about how we can collectively resist authoritarianism, and what role young people can play in utilizing the political system to fight back against government corruption and the dangerous consequences of President Trump's executive orders.

Teen Vogue: This morning you held a press conference announcing that you'd be introducing a bill demanding a thorough investigation of Donald Trump and his troubling and obscured ties to Russia. What urged you to push this bill forward?

Maxine Waters: I've introduced legislation to make sure that there is a substantive, thorough investigation of Trump and all of his operatives that fall within this circle of Trump and Putin because not only did they interfere with our election (and we know that they did because our intelligence agencies have confirmed that) but we need to know whether or not Trump and his people were in collusion with them. What did they do? What did they say? Were they involved in strategic planning? How long had this gone on? And what was Paul Manafort's role in that?

TV: If this bill passes and a thorough investigation is done and obvious and problematic ties are revealed, what do you think the next step should be?

MW: I believe that this president should be impeached. If we discover that there was collusion and that he strategized with and planned with the Kremlin and Putin to undermine our elections in any way to support Trump and undermine Hillary Clinton, and if we discover that there are telephone calls and emails and trips back and forth to Russia, and if we discover that they were involved in exchanging information, etc. he should be impeached. I think we should go for it.

TV: Since day one, you've openly stated that you do not intend to try to work with Donald Trump. Why have there not been more Democrats willing to publicly say the same thing?

MW: Well, I don't know and it's hard to speak for other people except to say that when you get into politics, you're socialized into the way in how you conduct yourself. We refer to each other as the gentlelady and the gentleman. We use language that has been designed to keep order, and to keep people in line. I don't subscribe to that. I believe there comes a time when you have to speak truth to power and be honest with the people, and be prepared to confront the kind of evil and criminality and undermining of the Constitution such as I believe this president has done. And if you have to suffer consequences for doing that, so be it. I'm prepared to suffer those consequences.

TV: When you were putting this bill together, what was the response from your Republican and Democratic colleagues?

MW: Well the Republicans are probably just learning about it today. I had with me about 8 or 10 Democrats who, when they learned about it, joined with me to be principle co-authors on the bill. Some people called and said they would've met with me last night but they had conflicting schedules. So what we'll do now is circulate this petition and make sure that everybody sees it and we'll see who will sign up to go with us to bring it forward.

TV: How do you feel when you see protests occurring all over the nation urging to fight Trump's presidency?

MW: I am one who believes in the power of the people. I am inspired when I see people hit the streets, who challenge their elected officials, and are willing to stand up and fight. I encourage it. It's always been a part of who I am and what I do. And I want not only the activists who've been involved for some time since Civil Rights, but I also want the millennials and our young people to be inspired by us. I want them to be proud that we're standing up so they want to join with us, I'm finding that all they're looking for is some truth.

TV: What advice would you give to burgeoning young activists who want to help the #resist movement and create effective political change? What can citizens do you help you as a congresswoman achieve change?

MW: There are several things that can be done. I love that they dominate social media, and the way that they can communicate with people [by sharing] what I'm doing and retweet what I'm doing. Every time they bring another person in to listen and to read about what is going on, we gain another supporter, who not only can continue to speak up and convince other people that we have to bring down this president, but now I know they will become voters and that they're going to vote because they have investments in this political process. They can begin to believe that they can create change and that they can make things happen. I want our millennials and our young people to do what they started out doing with meet-ups, to talk about what is going on, and spread the education. Reaching out to other people is important work. I am so pleased and honored that I'm getting the attention from the young people on social media. It's been missing. And I think we now have a way by which to attract some attention, educate, to share information and to get people more involved in their communities.

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