Thursday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) “dramatically” asked House Democrats to proceed with drafting articles of impeachment against President Donald J. Trump, to which the Commander in Chief challenged House Democrats to impeach him “fast” and ship the process over to the Senate.
“The Do Nothing Democrats had a historically bad day yesterday in the House. They have no Impeachment case and are demeaning our Country. But nothing matters to them, they have gone crazy. Therefore I say, if you are going to impeach me, do it now, fast, so we can have a fair trial in the Senate, and so that our Country can get back to business,” President Trump tweeted.
“We will have Schiff, the Bidens, Pelosi and many more testify, and will reveal, for the first time, how corrupt our system really is. I was elected to ‘Clean the Swamp,’ and that’s what I am doing!” the President declared.
Upon the announcement of Pelosi’s impeachment call, Senior congressional correspondent for CNN, Manu Raju, asked two Democratic representatives if they will be voting for impeachment. The two Congressmen that he asked had voted against the impeachment inquiry: Reps. Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ) and Collin Peterson (D-MN).
Raju tweeted, “Rep. Jeff Van Drew, one of two Democrats to vote against formalizing the impeachment inquiry, told me he plans to vote against all the articles of impeachment ‘unless there’s something that I haven’t seen, haven’t heard before.'”
“Van Drew warned Democrats to ‘be careful what you wish for and he added that impeachment ‘is tearing the nation apart. … And I want to bring people together.’ Van Drew said he would have preferred a censure vote so they could ‘move on,'” Raju reported on Twitter. (Continued Below)
Then, the CNN correspondent tweeted, “Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, the other Democrat who also opposed the inquiry, said this when I asked if he’d vote to impeach: ‘I don’t have an idea what they’re doing.’ And he walked on the floor.”
CNN’s Jake Tapper told Texas Democratic Representative Veronica Escobar on Thursday after Raju asked the Congressmen about impeachment, that “voting against impeachment, ultimately will be bipartisan.”
“This will probably not come as a surprise to you Congresswoman, but one of your Democratic colleagues, Congressman Veff Van Drew of New Jersey, he’s a Democrat– he represents a district that Trump won by something like, I think 5 or 6 points. He will vote against the articles of impeachment unless there is something new that he has not seen or heard before,” Tapper told Escobar. (Video Below)
“That means impeachment would not be unanimous among Democrats. Although, voting against ultimately will be bipartisan,” Tapper added, to which Rep. Escobar responded, “Well, that’s true. But the bottom line is, each one of us has to search our hearts.”
Last month during an interview with host Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures”, Congressman Van Drew also told Bartiromo that he would be voting “no” against impeachment.
“I would imagine I will be voting no. Now I always have a codicil if there is something new, something we haven’t heard, something that really rises to the level of treason or you know, a high crime, that would be different. But we don’t see that, Van Drew said.
We see little variations– hearsay, discussions somebody heard something somebody else said. Our founding fathers had vigorous debates on whether they would even allow impeachment in the Constitution. You don’t disenfranchise voters, millions upon millions of voters. Voters choose their leaders in America,” he added. (Continued Below)
Watch:
🚨BREAKING🚨
Democrat Jeff Van Drew says he plans to vote against all the articles of impeachment "unless there's something that I haven't seen, haven't heard before." pic.twitter.com/swsGl9k7Bz
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) December 5, 2019
Rep. Van Drew: “I would rather have seen a censure… The House could have strongly censured him… [President Trump] is going to be exonerated and use that to his advantage… People have to be careful for what they wish for.”
Fox News Video Screenshot
(Continued Below)
Manu Raju’s official tweets:
Rep. Jeff Van Drew, one of two Democrats to vote against formalizing the impeachment inquiry, told me he plans to vote against all the articles of impeachment "unless there's something that I haven't seen, haven't heard before."
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 5, 2019
Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, the other Democrat who also opposed the inquiry, said this when I asked if he'd vote to impeach: "I don't have an idea what they're doing." And he walked on the floor.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 5, 2019
What’s more, in a recent poll conducted in “battleground states”, the Washington Post reported that voters “oppose” impeachment by 51%.
Fox News Video Screenshot.
(Related: Steve Bannon: “Nancy Pelosi Is Risking Now Her Speakership By Continuing To Press On [Impeachment]”)
