Trump Should Resign, Says GOP Ex-Congressman

President Trump is facing intense criticism from lawmakers and pundits from both sides of the aisle following his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But a former Republican Congressman is going a step further and says Trump should resign. David Jolly of Florida made that remark during an interview Tuesday afternoon on MSNBC.

Jolly also took to Twitter following President Trump’s remarks Tuesday about the Russia summit. The president claims he misspoke in Helsinki when talking about interference in the 2016 election; he meant to say “I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.” Trump also clarified Tuesday that he DOES support the findings of the U.S intelligence community.

Jolly expressed skepticism over this new explanation, tweeting “Next up, Melania holds a presser to say she thought her jacket said “I really do care” not “I really don’t care”.
Jolly followed up, “Trump didn’t say it was a 400 hundred pound man, he said it was 400 hundred one pound men. I mean c’mon, if the press was honest, they would know what Trump meant.”

Jolly represented Florida in the House from 2014 to 2017. He lost re-election to former Florida governor Charlie Crist, a Democrat. Jolly’s criticism of Donald Trump began during the election and has only intensified since he was ousted from Congress.

Here’s what you need to know.

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Jolly Has Publicly Encouraged his Former Congressional Colleagues Repeatedly to Speak Up More

Former Rep. David Jolly has called on Republican lawmakers to step up many times since President Trump took office. He sharply criticized his Republican colleagues the day after President Trump fired FBI Director James Comes, saying “It’s an embarrassing time to be a Republican.”

Jolly went on to say, “It’s no surprise Donald Trump is governing with such arrogance and disregard for political norms. It is a surprise though that the GOP Congress is falling in line with a cover-up…Hold Donald Trump to the same standard of accountability that you held Barack Obama. You’re not doing it. You’re destroying your credibility and you’re embarrassing the party.”

In May of 2018, Jolly wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post stating that many Republican politicians dislike are too “terrified” to admit they dislike President Trump. Jolly criticizes his former colleagues in the piece, arguing that they have an obligation as elected officials to speak up when they disagree with the administration’s actions. “If you don’t go on the record, your opinion doesn’t count.”

Jolly also explained, “Knowingly or not, members of Congress choose one of two approaches to serving. Many strictly embrace their partisan identity, believing with honest conviction that they promised to uphold a party platform that voters back home affirmed and expected their representative to enforce.

A smaller minority of lawmakers espouses the notion that though elected in partisan races, they hold a greater responsibility — that upon taking the oath of office they hold a public trust and are called upon to advance the nation’s broader interests, even if that means at times going against their party. This latter approach was the very essence of James Madison’s advocacy of a republican form of government.”

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Jolly, Who Endorsed Jeb Bush for President, Called on Trump to Drop Out of the Election in 2015

Jolly has been very vocal in his distaste for the president’s actions dating back to the early days of the election. In December 2015, he declared on the House floor that then-candidate Trump needed to drop out of the race, after he called for a ban on Muslims entering the country.

He argued that Trump posed a threat to freedom of religion in the United States. Jolly told his colleagues, “I’m a born-again Christian. I believe in the saving grace of the Jesus Christ that I call my God. And the beautiful thing about this country is I can stand here on the House floor among my peers and in front of the nation and declare that faith without fear of any reprisal. But if Donald Trump has his way, we may not have the liberty to do that anymore.”