“This process has been a mistake and I will not be whipped in line by my party. I may stand alone but I stand in good conscience.” Rep. Collin Peterson, a Minnesota Democrat, put that in a statement on Wednesday night, after the House impeached President Donald Trump.
Peterson voted no on both articles. He was one of just two Democrats to do so.
The vote
The House backed the abuse of power article 230 to 197 and the obstruction of Congress article 229 to 198. The other Democrat voting no on both was Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, who is planning to join the Republican Party over the issue. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, a 2020 presidential candidate, voted present. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine voted yes on abuse of power and no on obstruction. Every other Democrat voted yes on both.
Trump became only the third president to be impeached, after Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. He has not been removed; that is up to the Republican-controlled Senate, which will hold a trial.
Peterson’s district
Peterson has represented Minnesota’s sprawling western 7th District since 1991. It is overwhelmingly Republican, and Trump carried it by more than 30 points in 2016. Peterson won re-election that year by 4 percentage points.
Earlier in the week he criticised the order of events. “We have people who have decided to impeach him, and now they spent a year trying to figure out how they can make a case for it. That is just backwards,” he said.
His statement went on to ask how, after all the testimony, “every Democrat thinks the president has committed an impeachable offense and every Republican thinks he has not.” He added: “I’m not a lawyer and am not sure what ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ are, but I do know that this process has not convinced the people in my district we have impeachable offenses and that the president needs to be removed.”
Peterson said he disagreed with how the Russia probe and Mueller report were handled, and that this set the stage for what he called a failed impeachment inquiry. “History will show this to be a mistake and the Senate will make short work of an acquittal,” he said. He plans to remain a Democrat.
What the charges say
Democrats accused Trump of abusing his power by withholding military aid to Ukraine unless it investigated his political rival Joe Biden, and then covering it up. Newsweek put the aid at $391 million and said Trump also conditioned a White House meeting for President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on investigations. The second article, obstruction, rests on the White House’s refusal to cooperate with the inquiry or comply with congressional subpoenas.
Trump denies wrongdoing and says he wanted nothing from Ukraine. He says he was pursuing legitimate concerns about corruption there.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said after the vote that the president left Democrats no choice, calling the vote something done to honor the vision of the founders. Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said: “He’s president today. He’ll be president tomorrow, and he will be president when this impeachment is over.”
The rest of Minnesota
Minnesota Democrats Angie Craig, Betty McCollum, Ilhan Omar and Dean Phillips voted yes. Omar told WCCO she believes Trump engaged in “extortion” and “bribery,” and called her vote a check and balance. Republicans Tom Emmer, Jim Hagedorn and Pete Stauber criticised the process and voted no.
At a rally in Michigan, Trump said: “It doesn’t really feel like we’re being impeached. The country is doing better than ever before. We did nothing wrong.”
Sources
- 'I Will Not Be Whipped In Line': Minnesota Democrat Collin Peterson Votes 'No' On Impeachment
- Democrat Who Voted Against Impeaching Trump: 'I Stand in Good Conscience'
