In 2011, the Obama administration launched a website called “We The People” through which citizens were given the ability to petition the White House to take action on specific areas of concern, provided a certain threshhold of support was garnered for a given request.
Though the site has been largely ignored by the Trump administration, one topic of interest recently broached by online petitioners involves a desire to see Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) removed from office.
“Impeach Nancy Pelosi”
A petition titled, “Impeach Nancy Pelosi for crimes of Treason!” was created and submitted to the site over a year ago and has attracted over 300,000 signatures to date.
“Illegal aliens are enemies that invade our country with drugs, human trafficking, and terrorist causing death and crime to American citizens,” it reads.
The author goes on to allege that the House speaker “adheres to these enemies by voting for and providing them aid and comfort through Sanctuary policies funded by US citizen tax dollars, and refuses to protect American people by refusing to fund our border wall, leaving our borders open and unsafe.”
It also references last year’s government shutdown and Pelosi’s decision to effectively disinvite President Trump from delivering the 2019 State of the Union Address on its originally scheduled date.
However, this particular petition isn’t likely to amount to much, in part because the White House has no power to impeach the speaker of the House.
Moot point
Furthermore, as previously stated, the Trump administration does not seem be paying much attention to the We The People website and the petitions it receives.
A recent article in the Washington Examiner reports that the White House has only responded to seven such petitions since Trump came into office. Notaby, one of them was a request to have Antifa designated as a domestic terrorist organization.
“President Donald J. Trump has repeatedly said that hatred and violence have no place in America,” the response to the petition began. “Our country must unite in condemning violence and recognize that the bonds of love and loyalty that bring us together are stronger than the wicked forces trying to divide us.”
“Although Federal law provides a mechanism to designate and sanction foreign terrorist organizations and foreign state sponsors of terrorism, there is currently no analogous mechanism for formally designating domestic terrorist organizations,” it continued.
“Nonetheless, law enforcement has many tools at its disposal to address violent individuals and groups. The Department of Justice routinely charges violent individuals, of all types, with a variety of offenses, including arson, threats, fraud, tax violations, hate crimes, murder, and offenses related to the misuse or illegal possession of firearms and explosives,” the administration concluded, offering at least some reassurance that the petitioners’ concerns would be addressed through appropriate and available means.
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