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Oregon Rep. Kurt Schrader Joins Call For Trump Impeachment Inquiry

<p>Kurt Schrader, U.S. representative for District 5.</p>

Alan Sylvestre

Kurt Schrader, U.S. representative for District 5.

UPDATE (12:25 p.m. PT) – Rep. Kurt Schrader on Thursday became the last Democrat in the Oregon congressional delegation to support an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

Schrader said Trump’s pressure on the new Ukranian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to dig up dirt on Democratic rival Joe Biden was the last straw for him.

Oregon’s other Democratic lawmakers — Reps.  Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici and Peter DeFazio and Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden — had previously backed formal hearings that could lead to Trump’s impeachment in the House.

The state’s sole Republican lawmaker, Rep. Greg Walden, has not supported a move toward impeachment. He sent out a tweet Wednesday afternoon saying that the phone call "wasn't President Trump's finest moment." But he added that "from what I've seen so far it certainly doesn't rise to 'high crimes and misdemeanors'..."

Copyright 2019 Oregon Public Broadcasting

Jeff Mapes