U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Tuesday announced that the chamber will launch a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump regarding a recent phone call he had with the president of Ukraine.
Pelosi’s announcement was met with instantaneous pushback from many Republican leaders in Alabama, including members of the state’s congressional delegation.
Congressman Bradley Byrne (AL-01) said, “I will vehemently fight these efforts to impeach President Trump.”
“The radical Squad has taken over the Democrat Party, and the American people will see right through this nonsense,” he continued. “President Trump has been the conservative leader that our country needs, and Democrats just can’t stand that he is getting the job done.”
Byrne concluded by calling on Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) to publicly state where he stands on the matter.
“I have a straightforward question for Alabama’s Democrat Senator Doug Jones: do you support these impeachment proceedings? Every leader in our country should have to say whether they stand with President Trump and the American people or if they stand with the Socialist Squad,” Byrne emphasized.
The allegation that the President withheld military aid in order to pressure Ukraine-even indirectly-to investigate a political opponent is a very serious matter. It’s critical to nat’l security for the House & Senate to perform their constitutional oversight role & investigate
— Doug Jones (@DougJones) September 25, 2019
In a statement, Congressman Mike Rogers (AL-03) lamented, “Nancy Pelosi and her socialist horde in the House cannot accept that Donald Trump won the election in 2016 fair and square.”
“From the Russia hoax, to fake obstruction, to fanning recession fears, to calls to world leaders, Democrats are obsessed with impeachment. If only the Democrats would put this much effort in making America great again,” he added.
This sentiment was also expressed by Congressman Robert Aderholt (AL-04).
“Since the Democrats took control of the House of Representatives in January, impeachment has been first and foremost on the minds of most of the Democrat Caucus,” Aderholt stated. “While most of their constituents hoped to see the Democrat majority work on better trade deals, infrastructure funding, and real immigration reform, the new majority has been working on overturning the results of the 2016 election, as it did not turn out as they expected.”
“I think most Americans want Congress to focus on issues that help families and strengthen the economy, rather than impeaching this President,” he advised.
Congressman Mo Brooks (AL-05) also chimed in.
“The Constitution states a president can only be impeached for ‘Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.’ Hatred, dislike or a desire for Socialism & Open Borders do not support gutting the people’s will and overturning properly held elections,” Brooks said in a statement. “Socialist Democrats have yet to produce ANY credible evidence of President Trump’s violation of a SINGLE, SPECIFIC federal criminal statute that constitutes ‘Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.’”
He continued, “Frankly, if Socialist Democrats had evidence proving guilt, they would have already impeached President Trump. Further, the Bill Clinton fiasco established the Congressional standard for impeachment. Under the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, Congress should not impeach ANY president for any crime equal to or less than the felonies committed by President Clinton: felony perjury and obstruction of justice. After all, President Clinton was not removed from office even though he confessed to committing felonies while in office. Treating different presidents ‘unequally’ is a hyper-partisan miscarriage of justice & violation of the 14th Amendment.”
“I look forward to upcoming hearings revealing whether there is credible evidence of an impeachable offense or whether this is just another ‘Russian Collusion Witch-Hunt,’ as everything to date suggests it is. In any event, I will abide by my oath of office to defend and protect the Constitution. I will examine all evidence. I will apply that evidence to governing federal criminal statutes. I will apply 14th Amendment equal protection principles. I will vote accordingly,” Brooks concluded.
Transcript released
Since the initial reaction on Tuesday, the transcript of Trump’s phone call has been released. You can read it here.
Byrne and Brooks have both reacted to the release of the transcript, with the two Alabama congressmen saying it shows that Trump did not commit an impeachable offense on the call.
“NOTHING in this transcript warrants impeachment,” Byrne tweeted. “Just another witch hunt by the Dems who still refuse to accept the results of the 2016 election. Transcript DOES show the need for a serious investigation into the Bidens and their actions in Ukraine.”
Brooks said in a statement, “I am incensed by the Fake News media and Socialist Democrats’ distortion of truth. I encourage ALL patriotic American citizens to read President Trump’s telephone transcript in full. In today’s age of Fake News, reading the unfiltered transcript is the only way to get to the truth.”
Brooks’ full statement as follows:
I have read the full transcript of the telephone conversation between President Trump and Ukraine President Zelenskyy.
I am incensed by the Fake News media and Socialist Democrats’ distortion of truth. I encourage ALL patriotic American citizens to read President Trump’s telephone transcript in full. In today’s age of Fake News, reading the unfiltered transcript is the only way to get to the truth.
Some noteworthy observations.
First, President Trump asked about Ukraine investigating “Crowdstrike” (an investigation unrelated to Biden). It was Ukraine President Zelenskyy, not President Trump, who first brought up investigations beyond “Crowdstrike. Only thereafter did President Trump mention then-Vice President Joe Biden’s possible illegal interference in a Ukraine prosecutor’s investigation of Biden’s son (who was allegedly involved in corrupt practices and may very well have been prosecuted for corruption but for then-Vice President Biden’s monetary threats, coercion and intimidation of Ukraine’s political leadership).
Second, in no way, shape or form did President Trump ask Ukraine President Zelenskyy for “campaign help.” There is no request for campaign contributions, campaign volunteers, yard signs or anything else of a campaign nature. Rather, President Trump’s request is very straightforward and an effort to root out and uncover corrupt practices that may (or may not) reach all the way to America’s White House under President Obama and V.P. Biden.
Third, I would hope and encourage every President of the United States to root out and uncover corrupt practices in the United States, or by any American citizen anywhere, particularly when the allegations reach to the highest levels of America’s government— the White House!
Finally, the Fake News Media and Socialist Democrats are engaged in a fake “Russian Collusion Scandal 2.0,” albeit this time involving Ukraine. The Fake News Media and Socialist Democrats should apologize to the American people for their intentional and knowing distortion of the truth. They won’t, of course, because they care more about advancing a hyper-partisan, Socialist, anti-America agenda than they do telling the American people the truth.
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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