Rep. Dean calls House impeachment vote ‘somber’
WASHINGTON >> First-term Democratic Congresswoman Madeleine Dean cast a historic vote Thursday regarding the impeachment of President Donald Trump. But it gave her no joy. “I would say the mood was closer to solemn and serious. There was no joy. We all felt the full gravity of the moment,” Dean, D-4th Dist, said by phone after the vote.
According to CBS News, the vote on House Resolution 660 Thursday fell “mostly along party lines to approve a resolution establishing the procedures for the impeachment inquiry’s next phase. The vote was 232 to 196, with two Democrats joining all Republicans in voting against passage. The resolution lays out the framework for public hearings and eventual proceedings in the Judiciary Committee, which would craft any potential articles of impeachment.”
To date, the Congressional inquiry into President Trump’s interactions with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, and whether Trump withheld financial aid to that country in exchange for help getting information damaging to Joe Biden, the former vice president and potential rival in the 2020 election, has remained with the House Intelligence Committee and behind closed doors.
Only the Democrats and Republicans on that committee have heard direct testimony, although news of some of the content of that testimony has leaked out and been reported by the press.
Thursday’s vote sets the parameters for how the inquiry will move forward from there, and when the testimony can remain public.
Dean, who sits on the House Judiciary and Financial Services committees, likened the need for secrecy up to this point to a grand jury investigation.
“It so evidence can be collected without compromising it, as you would in a grand jury setting. You want to protect the evidence, so witness memories are not altered or compared and you also want to protect innocent people,” she said. “Some testimony might make someone seem like they did something wrong when they have not.”
But even with the evidence that is already public, Dean said it is evident that the House has a duty to move forward.
“When you read the opening statements by (U.S. diplomat) Bill Taylor and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman who was on the call, who tried to correct errors in the record, who raised a red flag and was not heard; the idea that the president may have shaken down a foreign president whose country is occupied by Russia, our foe, for political gain; that he may have invited a foreign country to interfere in our elections, that can’t be ignored,” said Dean.
“I can’t imagine a more serious set of facts just in what we already know,” said Dean.
Dean said she was sitting next to Georgia Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis as the vote was being taken.
“I said, ‘what do you think?’ and he told me ‘we don’t have a choice,’” said Dean.
The resolution does not create a specific timeline for where the inquiry goes from here, or when public testimony will begin, said Dean.
But eventually, the matter will be sent from the Intelligence Committee to the Judiciary Committee and there the inquiry will occur in public.
“The president will certainly have an opportunity to come forward and present any exculpatory evidence, although up until now he has obstructed everything,” said Dean.
Thursday’s resolution was to ensure that process “is as transparent and dueprocess-driven as possible,” she said.
“This was not the reason I came to Congress,” said Dean. “Certainly, I wanted to help keep the president in check, but there was no joy in the (Democratic) caucus and no joy in the House to proceed with this. It feels awful to have to take our country through this, but it is our Constitutional duty.”
Dean added, “it’s amazing to me as I think about it, that the founders contemplated that an elected leader might abuse his power and created a mechanism to remove him if necessary.”