Democratic candidate chides Trump actions
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. » Democrat Antonio Delgado has separated himself from fellow candidates in the field for the 19th Congressional District seat, saying he has heard enough to believe there may be the basis for impeachment hearings to remove President Donald Trump from office.
Delgado, a Rhinebeck resident, made the comment Thursday following a forum featuring all seven Democratic candidates for the seat held by incumbent U.S. Rep. John Faso, R-Kinderhook.
“We’ve heard a lot of things that certainly raise suspicion and deep, deep profound concern,” Delgado said. “The fact that (Trump) fired (former FBI Director James) Comey and his intentions he laid bare on national television speaks for itself. The fact that he took very long to enforce the sanctions on Russia after the Congress has essentially unanimously said that we should ... The fact that he took so long to even acknowledge it.”
Delgado said he is also concerned by the June 9, 2016, meeting between Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner and former campaign manager Paul Manafort with RussianAmerican lobbyist named Rinat Akhmetshin, Kremlin-connected lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, and apparently two other Russian nationals.
“These are the facts,” Delgado said. “I’m not making any of this up.”
Delgado said his suspicions about the basis for an impeachment hearing need to be validated by the investigation being conducted by special counsel Robert Mueller.
“I do encourage Congress to pass ... bipartisan legislation to protect Mueller in the event that he is fired,” he said.
None of the other six Democratic candidates would comment on whether they had heard enough to believe there are grounds to consider impeachment hearings. They, along with Faso earlier in the week, would only say they would wait until the Mueller investigation is completed before commenting.
Eighteenth Congressional District Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-Cold Spring, attended Thursday’s forum, and, while also limiting his comments to support for the Mueller investigation, did say he was impressed by results of the probe to date.
“In less than a year, he’s got 22 indictments, 13 Russians included in that number; he got five guilty pleas and over 100 felonies,” he said. “That’s a lot of work in a short period of time. The allegations and investigation of (Trump lawyer) Michael Cohen gets more serious every day and we should let this process play out.
“Then there will be a moment we can make a judgment on whether high crimes and misdemeanors have been committed.”