Illinois

What They're Saying: Lawmakers on Trump Impeachment Inquiry

WCBU | By Tim Shelley

Published September 25, 2019 at 8:53 AM CDT

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced the kickoff of a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

The focus of the inquiry is Trump's July phone call with Ukraine's president. He reportedly withheld $400 million in military aid for the country while trying to strongarm the country into investigating a political foe, former Vice President Joe Biden.

U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Peoria) said this is nothing new. He claims the Democrats have been looking for a reason to impeach the president since he was elected in 2016.

“In regard to the allegations involving the call between President Trump and the Ukrainian president, I take them seriously and appreciate that President Trump has authorized the release of the transcript," he said. "I intend to read the full transcript and review the facts before drawing any conclusions. It’s unfortunate that Democrats decided to placate to their extreme base by jumping to conclusions before reviewing the facts.”

U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Moline) has been previously hesitant to back impeachment. But she supported Pelosi's announcement on Tuesday.

“Today’s action is a measured step to ensure the American people get the truth and the answers they deserve. This is a fact-finding mission," Bustos said. "Both Democrats and Republicans should want to get to the bottom of whether the President put our national security at risk for his own political gain.”

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Channahon) began fundraising off of the impeachment inquiry on Wednesday morning.

"Their crusade to impeach the President has never been about the facts -- we know because they've pulled the impeachment trigger when Congress is still missing crucial information that could prove the President did nothing wrong. But that doesn't matter to them," read a post on Kinzinger's campaign Facebook page. "This is nothing short of a blatant disregard for the will of the American people and our democracy. The Far Left didn’t like the result of the 2016 election, so they have chosen to tear apart our country to advance their radical agenda."