U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, Illinois’ senior senator and the No. 2 ranking Democrat in the chamber, said Monday the House should move forward with impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.
Speaking to an NBC News producer after taking the floor to issue a denunciation of Trump and majority Senate Republicans following reports of the president seeking to have Ukraine investigate potential Democratic challenger Joe Biden and his family, Durbin said, “I think we need to move forward.”
“I think this may be the straw that broke the camel’s back,” he said. “There’s so much cumulative evidence here, and many of us wondered if this would ever see the light of day in an impeachment inquiry, but I think now we have to move forward.”
Durbin repeatedly had avoided discussion of whether the Democratic-controlled U.S. House should pursue impeachment, citing the constitutional role of senators to sit as jurors if the House approves articles of impeachment.
Paid Post What Is This?
Earlier, on the Senate floor, Durbin cited the administration’s failure to turn over to congressional committees a whistleblower complaint involving a Trump phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in which the president sought a corruption investigation of Biden, the former vice president, and Biden’s son Hunter, who sat on the board of a Ukranian company.
The Washington Post reported that U.S. military aid for Ukraine had been put on hold by Trump just days before the phone call.
“If this president of the United States is going to attempt to extort a foreign leader to withhold security funds that were to be given from the United States to his country in order to pursue and promote his own political agenda, we have reached a new low in the United States,” Durbin said to the Senate.
“The whistleblower’s claims need to be released to the appropriate congressional committees and be evaluated according to the law,” he said.
Editorial: Mr. Trump, release the Ukraine-Biden phone call transcript »
Of congressional Republicans, Durbin said they “need to make it clear once and for all that no president — not this president, no president — can solicit or strong-arm a foreign country to further his own campaign. That is unacceptable under the Constitution of the United States.”
Durbin’s call for impeachment proceedings comes as Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been weighing options in light of the whistleblower’s action and news reports about Trump’s call to Ukraine, which have created new momentum by Democrats in the House to act.
Pelosi had been content to let House committees investigate Trump and his administration, particularly after former special counsel Robert Mueller released his report of Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election.
But House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York has said his committee is now holding an impeachment inquiry of the president.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/poli...0190924-mdxocru5hzbn7hjor5jw47side-story.html
Speaking to an NBC News producer after taking the floor to issue a denunciation of Trump and majority Senate Republicans following reports of the president seeking to have Ukraine investigate potential Democratic challenger Joe Biden and his family, Durbin said, “I think we need to move forward.”
“I think this may be the straw that broke the camel’s back,” he said. “There’s so much cumulative evidence here, and many of us wondered if this would ever see the light of day in an impeachment inquiry, but I think now we have to move forward.”
Durbin repeatedly had avoided discussion of whether the Democratic-controlled U.S. House should pursue impeachment, citing the constitutional role of senators to sit as jurors if the House approves articles of impeachment.
Paid Post What Is This?
Earlier, on the Senate floor, Durbin cited the administration’s failure to turn over to congressional committees a whistleblower complaint involving a Trump phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in which the president sought a corruption investigation of Biden, the former vice president, and Biden’s son Hunter, who sat on the board of a Ukranian company.
The Washington Post reported that U.S. military aid for Ukraine had been put on hold by Trump just days before the phone call.
“If this president of the United States is going to attempt to extort a foreign leader to withhold security funds that were to be given from the United States to his country in order to pursue and promote his own political agenda, we have reached a new low in the United States,” Durbin said to the Senate.
“The whistleblower’s claims need to be released to the appropriate congressional committees and be evaluated according to the law,” he said.
Editorial: Mr. Trump, release the Ukraine-Biden phone call transcript »
Of congressional Republicans, Durbin said they “need to make it clear once and for all that no president — not this president, no president — can solicit or strong-arm a foreign country to further his own campaign. That is unacceptable under the Constitution of the United States.”
Durbin’s call for impeachment proceedings comes as Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been weighing options in light of the whistleblower’s action and news reports about Trump’s call to Ukraine, which have created new momentum by Democrats in the House to act.
Pelosi had been content to let House committees investigate Trump and his administration, particularly after former special counsel Robert Mueller released his report of Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election.
But House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York has said his committee is now holding an impeachment inquiry of the president.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/poli...0190924-mdxocru5hzbn7hjor5jw47side-story.html
