Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., a freshman member of the House Judiciary Committee, leaves a House Democratic Caucus meeting with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., where Pelosi was persuaded to launch a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019.
J. Scott Applewhite / AP Photo
J. Scott Applewhite / AP Photo
Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., a freshman member of the House Judiciary Committee, leaves a House Democratic Caucus meeting with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., where Pelosi was persuaded to launch a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019.
Multiple Democratic lawmakers from Pennsylvania are now open to an impeachment inquiry against Republican President Donald Trump. Some of these comments were made before U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, announced the opening of an official impeachment inquiry based on reports that Trump may have withheld security assistance funds to persuade a foreign country to help him against a potential opponent in the 2020 election.
We’ll update this post as more lawmakers make public comments.
Bucks County Republican congressman Brian Fitzpatrick: No recent news releases about impeachment, and nothing about impeachment recently posted on his Twitter or Facebook accounts as of 4 p.m. Tuesday. But a Fitzpatrick spokesman told The Morning Call he’s opposed to impeachment.
Asked about impeachment, a spokesman for @RepBrianFitz, R-Pa., says the congressman “disfavors the mechanism of impeachment except in the most extreme of circumstances. ..Unless new evidence surfaces that meets this very high threshold, the Congressman is opposed to impeachment.”
— Laura Olson (@lauraolson) September 24, 2019
Democratic congressman Brendan Boyle of Philadelphia already supported impeachment efforts. He renewed that call.
I represent more Ukrainian-Americans than any other member of Congress. I’ve introduced more bills and amendments supporting Ukraine than any other member. What Trump has done is sacrifice America’s defense of Europe against Russia. It is deeply unpatriotic. He must be impeached.
— US Rep Brendan Boyle (@RepBrendanBoyle) September 24, 2019
Philadelphia Democrat Dwight Evans already supported a formal impeachment inquiry. He renewed that call.
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Starting a formal #impeachment inquiry is necessary because we have to stop the damage Trump has been doing to our government, to our Constitution, to our democracy.https://t.co/bbT26s6usO— Dwight Evans (@RepDwightEvans) September 24, 2019
Montgomery County Democrat Madeleine Dean already supported an impeachment inquiry.
The President has betrayed his oath of office.
Our Speaker and our Caucus are united in our impeachment inquiry against the grievous wrongdoing of a President who puts himself and his personal political gain over national security and the rule of law.
— Congresswoman Madeleine Dean (@RepDean) September 24, 2019
Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon, a Delaware County Democrat, renewed her call for an impeachment inquiry.
Congress has a constitutional duty to investigate the serious allegations against this president. If we don’t, what message does that send to future presidents and our children? pic.twitter.com/ohqn2efDp5
— Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (@RepMGS) September 23, 2019
Chester County Democrat Chrissy Houlahan has resisted calls for impeachment, but this week, she said that if it is true that Trump “was indeed willing to use his power and withhold security assistance funds to persuade a foreign country to assist him in an upcoming election” that would be an impeachable offense.
She made the statement in a Washington Post op-ed with six other Democrats.
THREAD: Over the past few days, my attention has been drawn, sadly, to the new allegation that our President threatened a foreign leader by denying military assistance in order to obtain information that would discredit a political opponent. /1 pic.twitter.com/Qqg2B97ecW
— Chrissy Houlahan (@RepHoulahan) September 24, 2019
Lehigh Valley Democrat Susan Wild has previously resisted impeachment efforts. But on Tuesday, she said she would support an impeachment inquiry if the administration continues “to withhold the whistleblower complaint at the heart of this matter … .”
She said if the president did “coerce a foreign leader to investigate his political rival for purposes of bolstering his 2020 re-election prospects,” it would warrant impeachment.
Congressman Matt Cartwright, a Democrat in northeastern Pennsylvania, has previously resisted impeachment efforts.
But on Tuesday afternoon he expressed support for “comprehensive impeachment proceedings and document production,” although he noted it remains to be seen whether that will result in “actual impeachment.”
At some point, it becomes necessary to announce certain conduct by an American president as unacceptable. There have been credible allegations this week that the President abused the power of his office, on the international stage, for his own political gain.
— Matt Cartwright (@RepCartwright) September 24, 2019
Republican Dan Meuser issued a statement on Tuesday calling the impeachment inquiry an attempt to unlawfully remove the president from office and “nothing short of a Constitutional embarrassment for our country.”
“After harassing the President through countless investigations that began before he was elected related to tax returns, Russian collusion, obstruction of justice, and hotel business operations – none of which were based in fact and costing tens of millions of taxpayer dollars – one would think that Democrat leadership would move on to matters of actual importance. Democrat leadership has, however, chosen to focus on creating a far-fetched scandal related to a phone call with a foreign government leader. They are moving forward with an impeachment inquiry based on a transcript they have not read, one that the President is releasing tomorrow, and without the questionable whistleblower report.”
York County Republican Scott Perry: No recent news releases about impeachment.
In a video Monday, Perry referenced the whistleblower complaint against the president.
Hey everybody – here’s the Legislative Wrap-Up for last week. Be well… https://t.co/GsnkrJbi8c
— RepScottPerry (@RepScottPerry) September 23, 2019
“The president does have the ability to make arrangements and agreements with leaders of foreign nations,” Perry said in the video. “…Presidents need to be able to operate in this space and have conversation with other foreign leaders on behalf of the United States. And so, unfortunately, I think we’re probably just going to waste a lot of time with this.”
In a statement Tuesday evening, Perry said, “Democrats have been trying get rid of this President since before he was even sworn into Office. Speaker Pelosi’s decision to pursue impeachment – based on unsubstantiated, indirect, and anonymous allegations – only shows that she’s finally given in to the socialist wing of the Democrat Party.”
Lancaster County Republican Lloyd Smucker said Tuesday evening that Democrats are “rushing to condemn the President on hearsay and without all the information.
“Democrats are rushing to impeachment without the facts — and the facts are currently unclear. The Democrats have made clear that their partisan obstruction agenda of impeaching the President is more important than actually solving the issues the American people elected us to solve.”
Republican Fred Keller, whose district covers all or parts of 15 counties — including Perry, Snyder Union, Juniata and Mifflin counties, as well as most of Northumberland County and much of north-central Pa. — rejected the impeachment inquiry as a political move by “Democrats and never-Trumpers (who) have been determined at any cost to delegitimize our duly elected President.
“Enough is enough. The American people are tired of this charade. It’s time for Congress to focus on real action on legislation that would benefit the American people.”
Republican Congressman John Joyce’s district covers part of Cumberland County and all of Adams and Franklin counties.
“House Democrats have proven that they prioritize endless investigations over meaningful legislation,” Joyce said in a statement.
House Democrats have proven that they prioritize endless investigations over meaningful legislation. By pursuing politically-motivated impeachment, they have chosen to squander the balance of the 116th Congress – to the detriment of the American people. https://t.co/XZJoUDEl8K
— John Joyce (@RepJohnJoyce) September 24, 2019
Republican Guy Reschenthaler said the impeachment inquiry was “political theater” by Democrats:
— Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (@GReschenthaler) September 24, 2019
Republican Glenn Thompson’s Twitter and Facebook accounts did not have any posts related to the impeachment inquiry as of early Tuesday evening.
Republican Mike Kelly’s Twitter and Facebook accounts did not have any posts related to the impeachment inquiry as of early Tuesday evening.
Southwestern Pennsylvania Democrat Conor Lamb has opposed impeachment efforts. In a statement Monday, Lamb said Congress needs to get the full text of the whistleblower complaint by Thursday.
“We cannot allow even the possibility to exist that our President used the immense power of that office to protect his own selfish interests, rather than to protect the American people,” he said in a statement. “…We will get the truth.”
The statement didn’t mention impeachment or what Congress members should do if they don’t receive the complaint.
As I said yesterday, we need to get the full text of the whistleblower complaint by Thursday, not just the transcript of one phone call.
It appears that we will learn more facts in the coming days, and I’ll have more to say after that.
— Conor Lamb (@RepConorLamb) September 24, 2019
Democrat Michael Doyle renewed his call for an impeachment inquiry.
The allegations in the whistleblower report about President Trump’s calls with Ukraine are mind-boggling. I called for an impeachment inquiry a few months ago, and I’m glad that many of my colleagues have now joined me in pushing for this important action. https://t.co/u8gEAhGgyS pic.twitter.com/Nq6kdTIgSL
— Mike Doyle (@USRepMikeDoyle) September 24, 2019
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