Lake County’s House representatives vote to impeach President Trump
- LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
- Posted On
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The two men who represent Lake County in Congress cast their votes on Wednesday to impeach the president of the United States.
Congressmen John Garamendi (CA-03) and Mike Thompson (CA-05), both Democrats, were among the majority of the House of Representatives that voted to approve the two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.
Following its weeks-long impeachment inquiry, the House Committee on the Judiciary offered the two articles of impeachment.
The first article charged the president with an abuse of power and the second with an obstruction of Congress.
In separate statements on Wednesday, both Garamendi and Thompson said impeaching a president is a solemn duty that they don’t take lightly.
“The investigations and hearings conducted by the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees provide overwhelming evidence that President Trump abused his power of office and endangered our national security when he coerced the president of Ukraine into investigating his likely rival in the 2020 presidential election by withholding $391 million in critical military aid and a White House meeting from the Ukrainian government. Withholding this military assistance to Ukraine as it enters the fifth year of its deadly war against Russia endangers Ukraine’s sovereignty and safety as well as the United States’ national security interests,” Garamendi said on his Facebook page in the hours before the vote.
“President Trump has also issued a blanket order prohibiting all executive office personnel from testifying in Congressional impeachment hearings, responding to subpoenas, and turning over documents. Therefore, he has obstructed the legitimate and Constitutional obligation Congress has to conduct an impeachment inquiry when there is evidence of wrongdoing by the President,” Garamendi said.
He added, “No one is above the law. The President’s actions leave me no choice.”
Following the vote, Thompson released a statement, explaining his votes.
“The two articles I voted to pass today outline serious breaches of the public trust committed by the president, rising to the bar of high crimes and misdemeanors spelled out in our Constitution. As a combat veteran and having served eight years on the Intelligence Committee, I understand the threat that foreign actors can play in our elections. Every elected official must dedicate themselves to protecting our democracy. No one should invite a foreign country to interfere with our most sacred act of voting,” he said.
“It was a severe abuse of power for the president to ask a foreign nation to interfere in our election to benefit his personal and political interest and to condition bipartisan and Congressionally-approved aid on that interference. And it was an unacceptable obstruction of Congress for the president to order his officials to defy legally-issued subpoenas,” Thompson said.
“Unchecked, these actions could lead us down a path that will unravel the fabric of our nation. I am saddened to have had to vote in favor of these articles of impeachment. But, in the interest of defending our nation, I was compelled to vote to ensure our country holds the same values for our children and for generations to come. Ben Franklin, one of our most influential Founding Fathers, wrote that we have ‘a Republic, if you can keep it.’ I believe we must fight to keep it,” he concluded.
The two articles of impeachment that passed the House on Wednesday now head to the Senate where the chamber will hold a trial based on the charges in those articles.