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Articles of impeachment against Trump will be filed by Thanksgiving, Rep. Luis Gutierrez says

House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, center, adjusts the flag pin on fellow committee member Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., right, as they share a laugh with Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013, prior to the committee's hearing on America's Immigration System: Opportunities for Legal Immigration and Enforcement of Laws against Illegal Immigration. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press)
By Kim Janssen Chicago Tribune
House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, center, adjusts the flag pin on fellow committee member Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., right, as they share a laugh with Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013, prior to the committee's hearing on America's Immigration System: Opportunities for Legal Immigration and Enforcement of Laws against Illegal Immigration. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press)

CHICAGO – U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez has been one of President Donald Trump’s harshest critics from Day One.

Now the Illinois Democrat says he’s helping to spearhead the first coordinated attempt to impeach Trump.

Speaking Tuesday at the City Club of Chicago, Gutierrez said he and several fellow members of the House Judiciary Committee intend to “file articles of impeachment against Trump before Thanksgiving.”

While the effort wouldn’t be the first attempt to impeach Trump – Texas Democrat Al Green filed articles of impeachment in early October – Gutierrez told the Chicago Tribune that his group will be the first to make a coordinated effort.

“We appreciate single members putting in on their own articles of impeachment, (but) we’re going to use a lot of constitutional scholars and really make a case that the president should be impeached,” Gutierrez said.

He declined to identify the specific grounds for asking Congress to remove Trump from office, though he cited obstruction of justice and possible collusion with Russia, and said “We believe he’s unfit to be president of the United States, and we believe that he’s violated the Constitution such that he should be impeached.”

The congressman, who was critical of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer for what he said was their failure to stand up for the 800,000 immigrant children who would be protected under the Dream Act, and for what he characterized as their failure to leverage Democratic power, added: “I don’t want everyone running out of here thinking Nancy Pelosi is behind this, or that the Democratic Party is behind this, but I and a group of colleagues on the judiciary committee will file those articles of impeachment.”

The White House did not respond Tuesday.

Gutierrez, who again Tuesday severely criticized the government’s hurricane relief effort in Puerto Rico, said that much depends on special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“I kind of like that Mueller – he’s out there doing his job,” he said. “Our democracy may depend on that one man doing his job.”