By CAROLINE BECK, Alabama Daily News
Alabama’s six Republican U.S. House members voted against the two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Wednesday while Democrat Rep. Terri Sewell voted in favor them. Here is what some of the members said on the House floor during the over six hours of debate and later.
Rep. Bradley Byrne:
Byrne has been among the most outspoken in his opposition to Trump’s impeachment. He delivered a spirited defense of Trump from the floor of the House Wednesday.
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You can read Byrne’s full statement here.
Rep. Robert Aderholt:
Aderholt also voted no on the impeachment and said that Democrats were abusing the power of impeachment with which they have been entrusted.
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“Let’s be clear about what has happened. It isn’t the president who has abused his power. It is my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who are abusing one of the most powerful tools entrusted to Congress in the Constitution for their own purposes. Proceeding on the record before us threatens grave harm to the future of our country. Twisting the constitution to impeach a president who you fear will be re-elected is a flagrant abuse of the rule of law and an assault on the institution we all swore an oath to. (That) is one thing that the founding fathers were most fearful of.”
You can read Aderholt’s full statement here.
Rep. Mike Rogers:
Rep. Terri Sewell:
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You can read Sewell’s full statement here.
Rep. Gary Palmer:
Palmer voted against the articles of impeachment and said in a press release that he does not believe the case made by Democrats is enough to impeach the president.
Last night, I spoke on the House floor to express my deep concern and opposition to the articles of impeachment against President Trump. Watch my full remarks here:#ShamImpeachment https://t.co/iB1dliRtGL
— Gary Palmer (@USRepGaryPalmer) December 19, 2019
“The vote today to impeach President Trump is not supported by law, facts or logic. It does, however, circumvent the vision of America’s founders. They imagined that impeachment would occur only under grave circumstances, not due to political differences. Today, my Democratic colleagues have not proven that President Trump is guilty of ‘treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.’ The only thing President Trump is guilty of in this process is governing in a manner that some Democrats disagree with. That’s not a standard for impeachment.”
You can read Palmer’s full statement here.
Rep. Mo Brooks:
Brooks voted against the articles and said in a press release that Democratic Party has been taken over by the influence of socialist Democrats and are abusing their power.
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“Socialist Democrats have brazenly abused their majority party power in these impeachment proceedings,” he said. “The Constitution imposes a very high bar that must be cleared before an impeachment can trash the votes of American citizens and nullify an election. Only proof of criminal conduct suffices, to-wit: a high crime or misdemeanor, bribery, or treason. Over the past 230 years, American elected officials have defined criminal conduct in thousands upon thousands of city, county, state or federal criminal ordinances and statutes. Notably, the socialist Democrats’ impeachment articles fail to cite a single criminal ordinance or statute they claim President Trump violated. That absence fatally flaws the socialist Democrats’ impeachment efforts.”
You can read Brooks’ full statement here.
Rep. Martha Roby:
Roby voted no on Wednesday but already made her disapproval on the articles of impeachment known with her comments last week during the House Judiciary Committee’s debate on them.
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“The articles of impeachment before us in this committee do not meet the necessary requirements nor have they followed an exhaustive pursuit to even find all of the facts of the case,” she said. “The American people deserve a process that puts politics aside. The American people deserve a process that is led by our promise to protect and defend the Constitution. The American people simply deserve better.”
You can read Roby’s full statement here.