Has his backing
First local congressman to back impeachment charge
Rep. Paul Tonko first local Congress member to favor impeachment inquiry.
U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko became the first local Congress member to back an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
The Amsterdam Democrat said he believed it was Congress’ constitutional duty after reading the contents of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“After careful review of the evidence and testimony currently available, and in service to my oath, it is my judgment that Congress needs to accept the baton being handed to us by Mr. Mueller and open an impeachment inquiry to more fully assess the constitutional implications of seemingly criminal actions by the president and his campaign, and to determine whether formal impeachment charges need to be filed,” Tonko said in a statement Monday.
More than 40 House Democrats have
called on House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler to start impeachment proceedings, which would make it easier for them to compel document production and testimony. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has so far rejected that option, preferring a slower, more methodical approach to investigating the president.
As part of that effort, Nadler said Monday that his panel will hold a series of hearings on “the alleged crimes and other misconduct” in Mueller’s report, starting with a hearing Monday.tonko’s fellow local Democratic congressman, U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado, D-rhinebeck, has not joined the call for impeachment.
In a conference call with reporters on Monday, Delgado said his focus is on local matters that impact the people living in his Hudson River Valley district.
“People do care a lot about the rule of law. But at thesametimetheyhavea lot of questions on local issues .... (and also) workforce development, health care, climate change,” Delgado said. He defeated Republican incumbent John Faso in last year’s race for the 19th District seat and represents a moderate district that voted for Trump in 2016.
Tonko’s statement came as a top Democrat said that the House will vote next week on whether to hold Attorney General William Barr and former White House counsel Don Mcgahn in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with congressional subpoenas.
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said in a statement that the Trump administration’s “systematic refusal to provide Congress with answers and cooperate with congressional subpoenas is the biggest cover-up in American history, and Congress has a responsibility to provide oversight on behalf of the American people.”
The resolution scheduled for a June 11 floor vote will allow the Judiciary Committee to pursue civil action to seek enforcement of its subpoenas in federal court, Hoyer said. The House Judiciary Committee voted last month to hold Barr in contempt after he refused to turn over an unredacted version of Mueller’s Russia report. Mcgahn, one of the most-cited witnesses in the report, has been directed by the White House to defy the Judiciary panel’s subpoenas for documents and testimony. Mueller’s report did not establish a criminal conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign to sway the outcome of the 2016 presidential election in Trump’s favor. But Democrats have said they will continue to investigate some of Trump’s Russian contacts.