Seventeen former Watergate special prosecutors say they believe President Donald Trump should be impeached.
They made their announcement in a column posted Thursday in The Washington Post.
"We, former members of the Watergate special prosecutor force, believe there exists compelling prima facie evidence that President Trump has committed impeachable offenses," they said. "This evidence can be accepted as sufficient for impeachment, unless disproved by any contrary evidence that the president may choose to offer."
The former special prosecutors include: Richard Ben-Veniste, who also served on the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States; Kenneth Geller, the former deputy U.S. solicitor general; Stephen Haberfeld, who once served as U.S. magistrate judge in the Central District of California and Nick Ackerman, the former assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York.
"The ultimate judgment on whether to impeach the president is for members of the House of Representatives to make," the 17 former special prosecutors said. "The Constitution establishes impeachment as the proper mechanism for addressing these abuses; therefore, the House should proceed with the impeachment process, fairly, openly, and promptly."
They urged all members of the Senate "to put aside partisan loyalties and carry out their own constitutional duties courageously and honestly" if a bill of impeachment comes before them.
And they noted: "In 1974, it was a group of Republican senators who put national interest over party loyalty and informed Nixon that his conduct was indefensible and would compel conviction by the Senate and removal from office."