MSNBC "All In with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: "The cycle of terror in the wake of Dayton & El Paso."

Interview

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HAYES: Joining me now is that congressman, Al Green, Democrat from Texas. Congressman, do you see precedent in the U.S. and history for bringing articles of impeachment, article of impeachment against the president for the kinds of things that he says routinely, like you noted in your previous resolution?

REP.AL GREEN, (D) TEXAS: Well, thank you for having me. And if I just may share these thoughts about the incident that has…

HAYES: Please.

GREEN: …that has caused a lot of harm. I just want to let the people know in both cities that they have my deepest sympathies and my prayers. But I intend to do more than give prayers and sympathies, I want to move to impeach the president. To answer your question, I happen to have in my hand the actual articles of impeachment against Andrew Johnson. So I will read to you what it says. And it`s very brief because it`s not a theory, it is fact. Andrew Johnson was impeached for doing very much the same thing that this president has done. Here`s what it reads, this is in article 10 of the articles of impeachment. It says that "said Andrew Johnson has brought the high office of the president of the United States into contempt, ridicule, and disgrace to the great scandal of all good citizens whereby said Andrew Johnson, president of the United States did commit and was then and there guilty of a high misdemeanor in office." So the language that I`ve used is language that the framers would have had me use and it`s language that was used when Andrew Johnson was impeached by the radical Republicans. We need some radical Republicans and Democrats who are willing to take on this president to the same extent that the persons in 1868 took on Andrew Johnson. He was impeached for his bigotry, that was the underlying reason. And I`ve read to you the language in article 10, which went before the congress. It was voted on, and he was impeached; not convicted, but impeached. But that left an indelible stain on him. He could not get re-elected as a result thereof. We need to do this with this president, Mr. Hayes, because if he we don`t do so, we will deny history what it richly deserves. And that is to say that in this country, we will not allow the level of bigotry that he has perpetrated and that is causing harm to society. We know that bigotry kills now. We are not going to allow this. We won`t stand for it, therefore we will impeach him.

HAYES: That`s interesting. Part of what I hear you saying is that the president`s behavior and his language -- we`re talking not about obstruction of justice, we`re just now focusing on this. And I should note that Andrew Johnson, there were 11 articles of impeachment, 10 of them had to do with the violation of the Tenure of Office Act. But this one, the one you`re mentioning, the 10th article, is about what he said and the kind of language that he used and what the feelings he incited. That what you`re saying is essentially the president`s bigotry, and the way that he talks, has to be essentially marked at this moment for history for all to see throughout history as being aberrant, as being outside the bounds of proper discourse by the president of the United States.

GREEN: Absolutely correct. But I would also add this, not only does he simply speak in terms of racism and homophobia, Islamophobia, xenophobia, all of the various invidious phobias, he also infuses it into policy -- the Islamic ban, that was policy that he tweeted, kicking persons who are trans out of the military, that was policy. When he said that comment or made the comment about the s-hole countries, he was at that time producing immigration policy, and then went on to try to create a policy that would have made it more difficult from persons to come from African countries to the United States.

HAYES: But let me just respond to that, because I think there are many legal theorists and constitutional theorists say it`s important that impeachment, and the bar for impeachment, be abuse of office and not just policy disagreements. That, for instance, the president`s decision to say, rescind TPS for Haitians, which I think is one of the things you`re making mention to, the ban on transgender individuals

serving in the military, those are policy differences. The bar has to be higher, that a high crime and misdemeanor clears some threshold other than a policy disagreement.

GREEN: Well, first of all, it doesn`t have to be a high crime and misdemeanor, as I have evidenced with this article 10. It can be a high misdemeanor. And then secondly, it does not have to be a crime. Federalist 65, I hate to get into the weeds. In Federalist 65 we find the words of Hamilton, the words of Madison and Jon Jay, and they call to our attention that it`s the harm the president causes to society. The president is comparable to the CEO of a major corporation. You can fire the CEO of a major corporation if he does harm to the corporation. The framers gave us the ability to fire a president in midterm.

HAYES: Right.

GREEN: Immediately upon taking office if he causes harm to society, that`s what this is all about, that`s what was done at article 10, and that`s what we need to do with this president.

HAYES: Congressman, I always appreciate the incredible thought that you have put into this process every time you`re on the show. I really appreciate you taking time tonight.

GREEN: Well, thank you. Thank you. You`re very kind. Thank you.

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