MSNBC HOST: You have been calling for starting articles of impeachment since 2017, but a new Quinnipiac poll taken after the release of the redacted Mueller report said 66% say Congress should not start impeachment proceedings, there's a sharp partisan divide, with only 4% of Republicans favoring impeachment. Are you afraid this talk will help the president's re-election?
REP. AL GREEN: I'm concerned that if we don't impeach this president, he will get re-elected. If we don't impeach him, he will say he's been vindicated. He will say the Democrats had an overwhelming majority in the House and didn't take up impeachment. He will say we have a constitutional duty to do it if it was there and we didn't. He will say he's been vindicated.
Here's what I say, we're confronting a constitutional crisis as I speak to you. As I look at the people of America in the eye, I'm telling you, we have a constitutional crisis. The chief executive office of the president of the United States refuses to comply with subpoenas and says he will order others to do so, this creates a constitutional crisis. But this isn't the genesis of it. It started when the president decided he would fire Mr. Comey for his failure -- pardon me, as a result of his desire not to be investigated. And when he decided to do this and went on national TV at primetime and indicated he was thinking about this Russia thing, that was the genesis of it. We have a constitutional crisis.
I regret I'm the canary in the coal mine. I regret I was the person who had to first say there's some obstruction taking place here. I regret it had to be me but it had to be somebody. I take my duties seriously. I love my country and want you to know this, we must impeach this president. If we don't, it's not the soul of the nation that will be at risk only, it is the soul of the Congress that's at risk. Congress has a duty, a responsibility, an obligation that only it can fulfill. No one else can no. Other entity can. It is Congress that will have to act. If we put people above party, we'll act properly. But if we allow a party to be above principle, we will not. If we allow political expediency to trump moral imperative, we will have created a shameful situation that this Congress will never live down. History won't be kind to us. We must impeach him.
