MSNBC: Inslee to sponsor Gonzales impeachment resolution

MSNBC just reported on-air that Rep. Jay Inslee, D-WA-01, will sponsor a resolution favoring the impeachment of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Still developing, but an interesting prospect indeed.

UPDATE: The outstanding team at ThinkProgress caught the report too:

Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) is introducing legislation that would require the House Judiciary Committee and the House of Representatives to begin an impeachment investigation into Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, in the wake of his damaging testimony last week. The legislation reads:

Resolved: That the Committee on the Judiciary shall investigate fully whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives to impeach Alberto Gonzales for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Crooks and Liars has the video from MSNBC. Inslee's office has not released a statement yet, to our knowledge, but we may hear something tomorrow, possibly a joint statement made by several representatives who are initiating these proceedings. The National Journal could not obtain any comment.

These are not articles of impeachment, but a formal call for the Judiciary Committee to investigate and initiate impeachment if there is evidence that Gonzales' actions were illegal (and given what we know so far, it is apparent that the Attorney General has broken the law).

We strongly applaud Inslee's action and thank him for his courageous leadership.

UPDATE II: We get the statement tonight:

Former prosecutors to file Gonzales impeachment resolution in House

WASHINGTON - A group of former prosecutors who now serve in the U.S. House of Representatives will file a resolution on Tuesday that would direct the Judiciary Committee to investigate whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors.

The measure's sponsor, U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), who prosecuted cases in Selah, Wash., from the late 1970's to the mid 1980's, will announce the introduction of the impeachment inquiry resolution at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. As of Monday evening, co-sponsors of the bill include U.S. Reps. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), Michael A. Arcuri (D-N.Y.), Ben Chandler (D-Ky.), Dennis Moore (D-Kan.) and Bruce Braley (D-Iowa).

There's your cosponsors. A huge thank you to all of them. We have a prepared copy of the resolution here in PDF format (it's about 30 KB, shouldn't freeze up your browser if your connection happens to be slow).