What they said at Trump impeachment trial: Key quotes from California lawmakers
On Wednesday, a majority of the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump for a second time. At issue in the unprecedented trial was Trump’s role in egging on a mob that mounted a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol a week earlier while Congress convened to certify the election victory of President-elect Joe Biden.
One California congressman was among the 10 Republicans in the House who joined Democrats in the 232-197 vote for impeachment. Rep. David Valadao of Hanford endorsed Trump last year but opposed GOP efforts to undermine the results of the 2020 election.
Here are quotes from Bay Area and other California lawmakers during the impassioned debate and social media posts on the historic proceedings.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco: Opening formal debate on impeachment of President Trump, Pelosi reminded House members that they swore an oath “to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, so help us God.” “We know that the president of the United States incited this rebellion ... He must go,” she said. “It gives me no pleasure to say this, it breaks my heart,” she said, characterizing Trump as a desperate man who feels his power slipping away. “I ask you to search your souls and answer these questions: Is the president’s war on democracy in keeping with the Constitution?” And she asked them to consider whether Trump’s words to “an insurrectionary mob” were a high crime and misdemeanor.
Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove (Sacramento County): McClintock pushed back on claims President Trump incited the Capitol riot, saying the president simply told rowdy rally participants to march, not to commit violence. “March to the Capitol ... that’s impeachable? That’s called free speech,” McClintock said during the House impeachment debate. “If we impeached every politician who gave a fiery speech to a crowd of partisans, this capital would be deserted,” he said, adding that the real imperative is to hold the rioters accountable for their actions.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank: Schiff called on House colleagues to remember that at every threat during U.S. history, democracy prevailed because, “at every juncture ... when evil threatened to overtake good, patriotic Americans stepped forward to say ‘enough.’ This is one of those moments. Let us say ‘enough. Enough.’”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield: McCarthy said he sees impeaching President Trump as the wrong move but “that doesn’t mean the president is free from fault.” He said Trump bears responsibility for the attack on Congress by mob rioters, and that “he should have immediately denounced the mob.” He also said that some conservatives’ efforts to pin the Capitol violence on leftist Antifa radicals are wrong. “There’s absolutely no evidence of that and conservatives should be the first to say so,” McCarthy said. He said a factfinding commission and censure vote would be a “prudent” step instead of impeachment. “Impeaching the president in such a short time frame would be a mistake,” he said. “A vote to impeach will further fan the flames of partisan division.”
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles: “This is a Trump power grab that will not stop,” Waters told the House during the debate. Saying that Trump has “radicalized his supporters” to join with white supremacists, she said, “ This president intends to exercise power long after he is out of office.” She added, “We should be concerned ... He is capable of starting a civil war, and he must be impeached.” She referred to reports that Trump watched the Capitol riot on TV from the White House “and seemingly enjoyed it.”
Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael: Huffman told House colleagues Wednesday “there is no middle ground” between the high crimes laid out in the accusation against President Trump and any rationale to shoot down impeachment. “A vote to impeach Donald Trump means that years from now you can look your grandchildren in the eye and say ‘I did the right thing.’”
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose: Lofgren spoke during the impeachment debate as the only House member who has been involved in all the impeachment proceedings in recent history — of Presidents Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and Trump. “Those were long proceedings,” Lofgren said. “Today, we don’t need a long investigation to know the president incited right-wing terrorists to attack the Congress to try to overturn constitutional government. The actions were in public — plain as day. His actions are the most serious offense against our Constitution and our country. They are impeachable acts.”
Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale (Butte County): LaMalfa accused politicians pushing to impeach President Trump of “unbridled hatred” toward the president. “You hate him,” he repeated over and over during Wednesday’s impeachment debate in the House, each time naming a stance the president has taken: against abortion, against strong action on climate change, his policies on Israel, religion and border issues. “You hate him for putting America first,” LaMalfa said.
Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-San Diego: “The response to political violence must always be accountability,” or more violence will ensue: The newly elected Jacobs said she learned that while working for the United Nations and the State Department in the world’s conflict zones. “The U.S. Congress is now a conflict setting,” she said, accusing Trump of inciting violence by broadcasting lies about the election outcome. “We must hold this president accountable,” she told her colleagues. “It’s the only way to protect our democracy.”
Social media posts:
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, wrote on Twitter: “If inciting an insurrection isn’t an impeachable offense, nothing is. The Capitol is a war zone. We’re bracing for more attacks. We’re not doing this for the next 8 days, we’re doing this to protect the next 800 years of this democracy.”
Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, the lone California Republican congressman to vote for impeachment, wrote on Twitter: “Based on the facts before me, I have to go with my gut and vote my conscience. I voted to impeach President Trump. His inciting rhetoric was un-American, abhorrent, and absolutely an impeachable offense. It’s time to put country over politics.”
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Dublin, wrote on his Facebook page: “I am not asking my GOP colleagues to show the same courage the Capitol Police showed last week to defend our lives and democracy. I’m just asking them to do their job and remove the man who incited the attack.”
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, wrote on her Facebook page: “ Donald Trump incited a violent, white supremacist, domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol. Today, I’ll be voting to impeach him for a second time. He is an unprecedented threat to our democracy and national security — that calls for unprecedented action to remove him.”
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Fremont, wrote on his Facebook page: “I am voting to impeach because, as Lincoln said, “no grievance is a fit object of redress by mob law.” But our hard work begins after these events to address the real grievance and despair in left behind communities. To be worthy of this Capitol we all hold sacred, to repair our broken windows and broken communities, let’s finally invest the trillions that are needed in good jobs, in health care, and in education in places that are hurting.”
Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, wrote on her Facebook page: “The President incited a mob that attacked the Capitol of the United States, the tabernacle of our democracy. He is incapable of honoring his oath and our Constitution, and he has proven to be unfit and dangerous. I will vote to impeach this traitor to our country.”
By: Rita Beamish
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
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