Houlahan inches toward Trump impeachment

U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, whose call for action on President Donald Trump’s dealings with a foreign power concerning a political rival may have pushed her party’s leadership closer to convening impeachment hearings, remained cautious Tuesday about how far to proceed in moving toward that momentous action.

A spokesman for the congresswoman’s office said that Houlahan had still not budged towards supporting a full impeachment inquiry, despite her “grave” concerns about Trump’s conversations with the president of the Ukraine and the president’s unverified allegations about former Vice President Joe Biden.

Houlahan, Chester County’s sole representative in Washington, remains “committed to the rule of law” said press contact Connor Lounsbury, but had not made a decision yet on whether to vote for an impeachment inquiry. She remained determined that the White House be more transparent about the Ukrainian matter than it has until now, however.

“I believe we need to use any and all tools at our disposal to get to the unequivocal truth, and that includes an impeachment inquiry,” said Houlahan, D-6th of Easttown, in a statement provided to the Daily Local News. “That inquiry may not lead to impeachment itself, but we need to get to the truth.”

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in the late afternoon Tuesday announced the House would go forward with an official impeach

ment inquiry of Trump. Pelosi made the announcement about 5 p.m. Tuesday from the speaker’s office at the Capitol, saying “no one is above the law.”

Pelosi had until then resisted calls for impeachment, sticking with her position that Congress must not start formal proceedings unless the American public demands it. She has been concerned that a backlash against impeachment might imperil some legislators in House districts that remain a toss-up in voter registration — like Houlahan’s. If Houlahan’s signals showed that she would support the move, however, Pelosi would have justification for allowing the process to begin. Which she did.

The move by Pelosi put the Democratic speaker’s stamp on the investigations that have been underway in the House. Calls for an impeachment inquiry have intensified following reports that Trump may have sought the Ukrainian government’s help in his reelection bid.

The process moved quickly.

Late Monday, Houlahan — for months reluctant to join her fellows in pressing the idea — moved one step closer to supporting a call for the start of an impeachment process against Trump. In an opinion column, she joined with other freshman members of Congress in demanding transparency in scrutiny of his contact with Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelenskiy in July about Biden and his son, Hunter Biden

The freshman representative had stated in the column published in the Washington Post that she would wait for details about Trump’s contacts before making any decision on impeachment proceedings. That column, however, seemed to move Pelosi towards the beginnings of impeachment.

“I have struggled with this,” said Houlahan in a telephone interview with the Daily Local News. “I know how grave this is. This couldn’t be more grave.”

According to reports, a whistleblower’s complaint about call between Trump and Zelenskiy prompted the inspector general of the nation’s intelligence services to label the matter “credible” and “urgent” and in need of congressional attention. But Trump’s acting Director of National Intelligence, Joseph McGuire, has refused to turn over information about the complaint to the House Intelligence Committee.

“If we don’t get a release of the transcript (of the call) and/or the whistleblower report, and we continue to be obstructed in our duty, I will call for an impeachment investigation to be opened,” Houlahan said on Monday. “If all this is true, these are impeachable offenses.”

Her decision to support what could become a full blown impeachment process came after months of hesitation, during which Houlahan said she agonized over whether such an action would be good for the country, or be a distraction for her colleagues as the debated other issues she deemed important — health care, education, rebuilding of infrastructure.

“We have devoted our lives to the service and security of our country, and throughout our careers, we have sworn oaths to defend the Constitution of the United States many times over,” Houlahan and the others wrote in the column. “Now, we join as a unified group to uphold that oath as we enter uncharted waters and face unprecedented allegations against President Trump.”

To uphold and defend the Constitution, the representatives wrote, Congress “must determine whether the president was indeed willing to use his power and withhold security assistance funds to persuade a foreign country to assist him in an upcoming election.

“As members of Congress, we have prioritized delivering for our constituents — remaining steadfast in our focus on health care, infrastructure, economic policy and our communities’ priorities. Yet everything we do harks back to our oaths to defend the country. These new allegations are a threat to all we have sworn to protect. We must preserve the checks and balances envisioned by the Founders and restore the trust of the American people in our government. And that is what we intend to do.”

Houalhan’s colleagues from suburban Philadelphia, U.S. Reps. Mary Ann Scanlon, D-5th, of Swarthmore, Delaware County, and Madeleine Dean, D4th, of Glenside, Montgomery County have already called for Trump’s impeachment. On Tuesday, Scanlon issued a message on her Twitter account listing all the reasons why she believes the president should be impeached.

Scanlon’s reasons included election violations, profiting from office, abuse of power and obstructing Congress. “Congress has a constitutional duty to investigate the serious allegations against this president,” she wrote. “If we don’t, what message does

“I have struggled with this. I know how grave this is. This couldn’t be more grave.” — U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan

that send to future presidents and our children?”

At issue is a July 25 phone call with Zelenskiy in which Trump is said to have pushed for investigations into Biden at a time when he had ordered frozen millions of dollars in aid to Ukraine to help its fight against Russia and Moscow-baked insurgents.

Trump has insisted he did nothing wrong and has denied that any requests for help in procuring damaging information about Biden were tied to the aid freeze.

In the press statement issued late Monday, Houlahan — who served in the U.S. Air Force and now holds a seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee — noted her concerns over the national security threat that Trump’s actions may have posed.

“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,” she said. “If this is true, this marks a sad, new chapter for our country. This is a matter of national security, and we must find the truth.”

“I’m also concerned about a whistleblower complaint against the President that the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community says is both ‘urgent and credible.’ Congress has requested both the transcript from the President’s call and a copy of the whistleblower report. Like many of you, I hope these allegations are not true.

“If the allegations are found to be true, or if the Administration continues to refuse to comply with reasonable Congressional requests for information, I will take the grave step of calling for a formal authorization of an impeachment investigation,” she said. This investigation should look into the President’s obstruction so that we can get to the bottom of what happened and have transparency for the American people.

“If the investigation discovers that these reports are true, we should then consider articles of impeachment on the House floor,” Houlahan said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan