By the People is a project of the lobbying group Americans for All Of Us Action and works with other left-of-center groups to push for the impeachment of President Donald Trump. By the People has encouraged Democratic leadership to broaden the scope of impeachment investigations to include comments made by President Trump deemed to be racist or bigoted, despite efforts by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to limit the scope of the impeachment investigations

Impeachment Campaign

By the People and a coalition of 15 other organizations have claimed the pressure from their activities had convinced the House of Representatives to begin impeachment inquiries against President Donald Trump. ¹ By the People coordinated with left-wing U.S. Representatives Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), to release a statement describing their support of impeachment proceedings early in 2019. ²

By the People, CREDO Action, Equal Justice Society, and Free Speech for People released a report to allege that some statements on Twitter made by the President qualify as “high crimes and misdemeanors,” the Constitutional threshold for impeachment. ³

In a July 2019 letter from 13 national left-progressive groups including By the People to Speaker Pelosi, the signers encouraged her to broaden the scope of the impeachment proceedings to include President Trump’s alleged pressure on the Justice Department to investigate Hillary Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey. The letter also insinuated that President Trump has used his office to “promote racial hostility.” The letter urges Speaker Pelosi “to protect the 2020 election (as) Aspiring autocrats who win power through democratic elections rarely submit to re-election without a thumb on the scales.” ⁴

That same month, By the People, along with Free Speech for People, CREDO Action, and Equal Justice Society released a report to justify impeaching President Trump on grounds that statements made by him were “racist.”  The report attempts to provide Members of Congress with plausible justifications for impeachment action, although Congress “lacks an accepted test for when bigotry crosses the line.” ⁵

In September of 2019, By the People, partnered with Indivisible, Stand Up America, MoveOn, CREDO Action, Services Employees International Union (SEIU), Mainers for Accountable Leadership, Women’s March, the Daily Kos, Public Citizen, Need to Impeach, Progressive Democrats of America, DemCast, FreeSpeechPeople.org, and People for the American Way to launch a new website called impeachnow.org. The website acts as a central hub for left-of-center organizations to coordinate efforts to impeach and remove President Donald Trump. ⁶ In September of 2019, By the People, and 12 other groups requested that the U.S. House of Representatives delay recess for two weeks in October to “immediately get to work impeaching the lawless president.” ⁷

In October of 2019, Speaker Nancy Pelosi charged that any impeachment proceeding against President Trump to be limited in scope and that issues like “guns, climate change, and immigration” be saved for the general election in 2020. ⁸

Capitol Demonstration

In May of 2019, twenty activists with By the People were arrested in the Cannon House Office Building on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol Complex. By the People, activists were in the building to encourage Members of Congress to begin impeachment proceedings on President Donald Trump. ⁹

1. Corbett, Jessica. “As Impeach Trump Momentum Builds, Grassroots Groups Target Undecided Members of Congress.” Common Dreams, September 25, 2019. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/09/25/impeach-trump-momentum-builds-grassroots-groups-target-undecided-members-congress.
2. Washington Post. “Rep. Omar Signs on to Pledge to Impeach Trump.” Grand Forks Herald, February 26, 2019. https://www.grandforksherald.com/news/government-and-politics/977449-Rep.-Omar-signs-on-to-pledge-to-impeach-Trump.
3. Marcos, Cristina. “Tlaib Blasts Arrests of pro-Impeachment Protesters on Capitol Hill.” TheHill, May 14, 2019. https://thehill.com/homenews/house/443651-tlaib-blasts-arrests-of-pro-impeachment-protesters-on-capitol-hill.
4. Fein, Ron. “A Letter to Chairman Nadler and Madame Vice Chairwoman Scanlon.” Free Speech For The People. Free Speech For The People, July 30, 2019. https://freespeechforpeople.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Letter-to-Nadler-073019-1.pdf.
5. “When Is Racist Abuse Of Office An Impeachable Offense.” Free Speech For The People. Free Speech For The People, September 2019. https://freespeechforpeople.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/FSFP-report-impeachment-and-racist-abuse-of-office-20190920-1.pdf.
6. “‘Impeach Now.” National Grassroots Organizations to Coordinate.” Indivisible, September 25, 2019. https://indivisible.org/statement/impeach-now-national-grassroots-organizations-coordinate-grassroots-pressure-campaign.
7. “Coalition: Letter Demanding Delay of Congressional Recess.” Stand Up America, September 26, 2019. https://www.standupamerica.com/community-update/delay-congressional-recess/?utm_source=press&utm_medium=cision&utm_campaign=2019.09.24_Letter_Delay_Recess.
8. Voght, Kara. “Pelosi Says Impeachment Should Stay Focused on Ukraine. Some Liberals Say That’s a Big Mistake.” Mother Jones, October 8, 2019. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/10/pelosi-says-impeachment-should-stay-focused-on-ukraine-some-liberals-say-thats-a-big-mistake/.
9. Conley, Julia. “Americans ‘Have Been Waiting Two Years for Congress to Do Its Job’ – but Arrests Quash Impeach Trump Sit-in within Two Minutes.” Alternet.org, May 15, 2019. https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/americans-have-been-waiting-two-years-for-congress-to-do-its-job-but-arrests-quash-impeach-trump-sit-in-within-two-minutes/.