Congresswoman Susan W. Brooks (R-Ind.-5) provided the following statement following her vote against Articles of Impeachment on Wednesday:
Brooks
“Today is a somber day for our country. For only the third time in our nation’s history the House of Representatives voted to impeach a sitting President,” said Rep. Brooks. “Regrettably, the impeachment process in the House was flawed, inherently unfair, and politically motivated. All things our Founding Fathers warned us against.
“The Constitution of the United States allows for Congress to impeach a president if he or she commits ‘high crimes and misdemeanors.’ In order to uphold the oath that each Member of Congress took to protect and defend the Constitution, they must ensure their vote is not motivated by partisan disagreement. As Alexander Hamilton said in the Federalist Papers, ‘There will always be the greatest danger that the decision to use the impeachment power would be driven by partisan animosity instead of real demonstrations of innocence or guilt.’
“Disappointingly, the House Democrats have been solely driven by partisan animosity. Their desire to find a path to impeach the President began the day he was sworn in. Contrary to past impeachment inquiries, there was no neutral independent investigation that took place before this impeachment inquiry began. Chairman [Adam] Schiff of the House Intelligence Committee led the most partisan process imaginable acting as the investigator, prosecutor, grand jury and judge. Contrary to past precedent, Chairman Schiff selected what evidence was heard and prevented the Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee and the President from presenting evidence of their own. Even with a completely one-sided and unfair fact gathering process, Chairman Schiff and the Democrats did not make their case.
“House Democrats’ argument for impeaching the President ultimately rests on the allegation he asked a foreign power to intervene in the 2020 presidential election. In reality, it is the hypocrisy of the Democrats interfering in the 2020 election by impeaching President Trump eleven months before the election.
“The Articles of Impeachment allege President Trump abused his power and obstructed Congress. First, Democrats allege President Trump abused the power of his office. This is untrue. The facts revealed President Zelensky of Ukraine said multiple times he did not feel pressured by President Trump. The facts revealed no Ukrainian investigation of the Bidens occurred. The facts revealed Ukraine received the foreign aid from the United States. Therefore, the facts demonstrated there was no bribery and there was no extortion.
“Second, the Obstruction of Congress article has not been proven. President Trump, as many other presidents have done, exerted Executive Privilege to prevent members of his administration from testifying before Congress. Under the Constitution, when disputes arise between the Executive and Legislative branches, the separate but equal Judiciary Branch decides those disputes. House Democrats, in their haste to impeach the President, failed to appropriately litigate this matter in the courts thus any discussion of Obstruction of Congress is premature.
“For these reasons, I do not believe the President committed high crimes and misdemeanors, therefore I voted against the Articles of Impeachment.
“While I am disappointed in the extraordinarily partisan impeachment process that transpired in the House of Representatives, I continue to have faith in our democracy. We must find a way forward to bridge the partisan divide and deliver bipartisan solutions to improve the lives of Americans.”