By Vakkas Dogantekin
ANKARA (AA) - In an open letter days ahead of a historic impeachment vote, more than 700 historians have urged the House of Representatives to impeach U.S. President Donald Trump.
Citing a "clear and present danger to the Constitution", the historians -- including Ron Chernow, John Meacham, and Douglas Brinkley -- as well as famed filmmaker Ken Burns, said late Monday "if President Trump’s misconduct does not rise to the level of impeachment, then virtually nothing does."
The letter shared on Medium by Protect Democracy, a nonprofit advocacy group, comes as Democratic lawmakers prepare to proceed with a historic vote on articles of impeachment against the Republican president.
The lower chamber of the U.S. Congress is expected to vote on Wednesday on articles charging Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
If Trump is impeached -- likely given the House’s Democratic majority -- the articles of impeachment would proceed to a trial in the Senate, deliberating over removing Trump from office.
- Support for impeachment dipping
Support among Americans, including Democrats, for impeaching and removing Trump from office is waning, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS.
The survey showed a five-point drop in impeachment desire from a similar poll conducted in November right after the House Intelligence Committee's public impeachment hearings into the president's dealings with Ukraine.
Forty-seven percent said they opposed impeachment and removal, up from 43% last month.
Last month, 90% of Democrats said they approved of impeaching and removing Trump from office. The latest poll showed that 77% held the same opinion.
In more good news for Trump's image, 5% of Republicans said they approved of impeachment and removal, down from 10%.
- Trump leads in 2020 poll
Amid intense coverage of the runup to the impeachment vote, a national poll conducted by USA Today-Suffolk University on Monday said that Trump has a lead over the Democratic frontrunners former Vice President Joe Biden, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The House had previously voted only twice on articles of impeachment against a sitting president. Presidents Andrew Johnson (1868) and Bill Clinton (1998) were acquitted in Senate trials. Trump now becomes the third president to face impeachment articles in the Senate.
In 1974, Richard Nixon stepped down from office to avoid his removal as part of the Watergate scandal.