All members of the Northwest’s congressional delegations voted on impeachment along party lines. And those leanings are reflected in their reactions to the House of Representatives’ vote approving charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress against President Donald Trump.
OPB’s "Think Out Loud" heard from the four Democratic members of Oregon’s congressional delegation Thursday – the day after the historic impeachment vote. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, declined OPB’s request to be on the show.
Rep. Peter DeFazio said that beyond these first two charges against Trump, investigations are far from over.
“We haven’t completed the investigations into the road map of obstruction of justice and other issues that were given to us by Robert Mueller and his report,” DeFazio said.
DeFazio said investigations will also continue to look into Trump illegally profiting from state and foreign visitors to his D.C. hotel.
“When we finally get the evidence, we could have additional articles of impeachment.”
Walden affirmed in a statement that he voted against the articles of impeachment with a clear conscience.
“For me, overturning the outcome of an election demands two things: A bipartisan and fair process to determine wrongdoing, and a criminal offense worthy of overturning the outcome of the voters’ will,” Walden said.
“Neither threshold has been met in this case.”
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici emphasized the importance of the Constitution’s impeachment provisions from the country’s framers and reached a different conclusion from Walden.
“The Founding Fathers included the impeachment clause in the Constitution because they thought there was the threat of the president abusing power, and that provides checks and balances,” Bonamici said.
“Using the power of the presidency to get something not for the good of the country, but for himself and his reelection — that’s wrong, that’s impeachable.”
The articles of impeachment now trigger a U.S. Senate trial that will consider removing the president from office. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., stated earlier Thursday that she is considering holding the two articles of impeachment from the Republican-controlled Senate until Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., agrees to a fair trial.
In a statement following the House vote, Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley affirmed that the majority leader must commit to impartiality.
“I am profoundly disturbed that the Majority Leader has already said that rather than conduct a fair trial, he is working alongside the White House to enact a party-wide cover-up,” Merkley said.
“It is stunning that he is refusing to call witnesses because they would have evidence about the president’s misconduct.”
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden echoed Merkley’s statements, saying that “no member can uphold their oath of office without calling for a full airing of the facts at hand.”
Rep. Earl Blumenauer said that the House is cautious about sending over the articles of impeachment without additional critical witnesses.
“I see no good purpose served rushing it across the Capitol without having some basic understanding that this is on the level, and who can all participate,” Blumenauer said.
Blumenauer said in a statement that these articles of impeachment “do not expire next week, next month, or next Congress.”
With Pelosi holding onto the two articles of impeachment, there is now the possibility of Trump being impeached, but not acquitted by the Senate until the conditions of the trial are deemed fair.
Trump and his supporters have blasted the process as rushed and without merit, sometimes calling the majority party in the House, “Do Nothing Democrats.”
But Democrats are pushing back against that, contending the House was able to pass other legislation, even as it approved articles of impeachment. Rep. Kurt Schrader told OPB that despite divisive hearings during impeachment, there have been a slew of bills that have support from both sides of the aisle, including reforms to agriculture and adding limits to robocalls.
“We’ve been working in bipartisan ways all along while the impeachment process was moving forward,” Schrader said.
Copyright 2019 Oregon Public Broadcasting