Republicans who voted to oust Trump
Ten Republican members of Congress broke party ranks to vote for Donald Trump’s impeachment, including several who had not previously said they would do so. Here’s why they acted.
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A total of 10 Republicans voted with the Democrat Members of Congress to impeach President Donald Trump, including five who had not previously declared that they would do so.
Yesterday, CNN quoted unnamed White House sources who said they believed as many as 20 Republicans were ready to vote to impeach. This may have been an accurate reflection of behind-the-scenes negotiations, or it may have been an inflated figure designed to enable Mr Trump’s supporters to claim after the vote that support for drastic action against the President was ebbing away.
Dr Jared Mondschein from the United States Studies Centre told News Corp the fact that 10 Republicans voted for impeachment was more than he had expected, given President Trump’s approval ratings among Republican voters were still at 75 per cent.
Whether the 10 votes will create further momentum for the impeachment effort in the Senate is difficult to predict, as many Republican Senators, including Mitch McConnell, have yet to declare their position.
“The Republican senators are very much keeping their powder dry because there is little political advantage to declaring your position before the trial,” Dr Mondschein said.
THE ONES WE KNEW ABOUT
LIZ CHENEY
Of the five House Republicans who publicly indicated their intention to vote to impeach earlier this week, Cheney was the highest profile. The Wyoming Congresswoman, who is also former Vice-President Dick Cheney’s daughter, is also the third-highest ranking Republican in the House.
In her press statement, Cheney said of last week’s storming of the US Capitol Building: “None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”
She also reportedly implored other Republicans to vote for the impeachment, calling it “a matter of conscience”.
JOHN KATKO
Katko was the first Republican Congressman to declare that he would vote to impeach, a bold move given the vehemence and potential for violence from some of Trump’s more fanatical supporters, and particularly because he has not been known as a Trump critic.
In his statement, the Congressman from New York blamed the president for creating “a combustible environment of misinformation, disenfranchisement, and division” which manifested in the violence of the January 6 Capitol Building siege.
In an interview after the vote, Katko said he was also movitated simply by the weight of evidence that could see an impeachment go to trial.
Katko is member of the so-called “Tuesday group”, an informal caucus of moderate-leaning Republicans in Congress.
ADAM KINZINGER
A Member of Congress representing Illinois since 2010, Kinzinger has been a vocal critic of the President since the election loss, calling on Trump to delete his Twitter account in December, and saying he supported the use of the 25th amendment to remove the President after last week’s violent incident in the US Capitol Building.
In his statement to the media prior to today’s vote, the 42 year old raised an interesting issue: the idea that precedent works both ways. “If these actions … are not worthy of impeachment, then what is an impeachable offence?” he asked.
Kinzinger was heavily identified with the ‘Tea Party’ movement that dominated Republican Party politics in the early 2000s.
FRED UPTON
The Michigan Congressman’s declaration on Tuesday that he would vote to impeach was representative of one strand of thought within Republican congressional ranks: that the problem wasn’t so much Trump’s role in inciting the events of January 6, as his unrepentant attitude in the days afterwards.
“Today the President characterised his inflammatory rhetoric at last Wednesday’s rally as ‘totally appropriate,’ and he expressed no regrets for last week’s violent insurrection at the US Capitol,” Upton’s statement read.
“This sends exactly the wrong signal to those of us who support the very core of our democratic principles and took a solemn oath to the Constitution.”
Upton stressed that he would have preferred a censure motion rather than a drawn-out impeachment process, which could potentially disrupt the first months of the Biden administration.
“But it is time to say: Enough is enough,” he said.
JAIME HERRERA BEUTLER
A Member of Congress since 2011, Herrera Beutler was a trenchant critic of Trump before his nomination in 2016. Her declaration of intent to vote for impeachment was made yesterday, and addressed the idea that an impeachment would only further widen partisan divisions among the American people.
“I understand the argument that the best course is not to further inflame the country or alienate Republican voters,” the Washington Congresswoman said. “But I am also a Republican voter. I believe in our Constitution, individual liberty, free markets, charity, life, justice, peace and this exceptional country. I see that my own party will be best served when those among us choose truth. I believe President Trump acted against his oath of office, so I will vote to impeach him.”
THE ONES WE DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT
PETER MEIJER
Elected to Congress in November, Meijer revealed his intention to support impeachment just before today’s vote, although he had earlier criticised the President over his role in the storming of US Capitol Building, saying “This is not leadership”.
In his statement, the Michigan Congressman also addressed the issue of partisan division, as Herrera Beutler did, but compared the current political crisis to President Gerald Ford’s decision to pardon former President Richard Nixon.
“President Ford’s pardon was a necessary step to move the nation past the wounds of Watergate, but it followed Nixon’s resignation and acceptance of responsibility. Since last week, the President has accepted no responsibility for the violence his rheotirc and actions inspired,” Meijer said.
DAN NEWHOUSE
The Washington Congressman revealed he was in favour of Trump’s impeachment just before the vote.
“I wholeheartedly believe our nation – and the system of government it was founded upon – may well be in jeopardy if we do not rise to this occasion … Turning a blind to this brutal attack on our Republic is not an option,” he said in a released statement.
“The president took an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Last week there was a domestic threat at the door of the Capitol and he did nothing to stop it.”
ANTHONY GONZALEZ
The Ohio Congressman, who was once a professional football player, tweeted a statement of his intentions as the vote was taking place.
President Trump, his statement read, “helped organise and incite a mob that attacked the United States Congress in an attempt to prevent us from completing our solemn duties as prescribed by the Congress.”
He also accused Trump of anbandoning his post and jeopardising lives.
The President’s lack of response to the January 6 violence was another determining factor in his vote, Gonzalez revealed.
TOM RICE
The South Carolina Congressman was the only Republican from a southern state to vote for impeachment. He had not declared his intentions prior to the vote, but the public statement he released immediately afterwards was perhaps the most personal of any of the 10 Republicans who voted for impeachment, drawing on his own experience during the siege of the Capitol Building.
“I was on the floor of the House of Representatives when the rioters were beating on the door with tear gas, zip tie restraints, and pipe bombs in their possession,” Rice stated.
“It is only by the grace of God and the blood of the Capitol Police that the death toll was not much, much higher.”
“It has been a week since so many were injured, the United States Capitol was ransacked, and six people were killed, including two police officers. Yet, the President has not addressed the nation to ask for calm. He has not visited the injured and grieving. He has not offered condolences. Yesterday in a press briefing at the border, he said his comments were ‘perfectly appropriate.’”
“I have backed this President through thick and thin for four years. I campaigned for him and voted for him twice. But, this utter failure is inexcusable.”
DAVID VALADAO
Elected to Congress in November, the California Congressman had not revealed his hand prior to the vote, but tweeted a statement after he voted to impeach.
President Trump’s’ inciting rhetoric was un-American, abhorrent, and absolutely an impeachable offence. It’s time to put country over politics,” his statement read. It was also a matter of conscience for him, he stressed.
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