WASHINGTON – Michigan GOP Congressman Fred Upton of St. Joseph said he will vote to impeach President Donald Trump.
Upton is the first Republican member of the state’s delegation of U.S. House to say he will vote for impeachment.
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In a statement, Upton said:
“Today the President characterized his inflammatory rhetoric at last Wednesday’s rally as ‘totally appropriate,’ and he expressed no regrets for last week’s violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. This sends exactly the wrong signal to those of us who support the very core of our democratic principles and took a solemn oath to the Constitution. I would have preferred a bipartisan, formal censure rather than a drawn-out impeachment process. I fear this will now interfere with important legislative business and a new Biden Administration. But it is time to say: Enough is enough.
The Congress must hold President Trump to account and send a clear message that our country cannot and will not tolerate any effort by any President to impede the peaceful transfer of power from one President to the next. Thus, I will vote to impeach.”
The Congress must hold President Trump to account and send a clear message that our country cannot and will not tolerate any effort by any President to impede the peaceful transfer of power from one President to the next. Thus, I will vote to impeach. pic.twitter.com/NqxyoB4ncv
— Fred Upton #WearYourMask (@RepFredUpton) January 13, 2021
Other Republican members of Congress, such as Rep. Liz Cheney from Wyoming, announced that they also plan on voting for impeachment. New York Rep. John Katko was the first Republican to say he’d vote to impeach Trump.
Vice President Mike Pence is ruling out invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from power, less than a week after the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
In a letter late Tuesday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Pence said the mechanism should not be used “as a means of punishment or usurpation” and reserved for cases of medical or mental incapacitation.
Pence encouraged Congress to avoid actions to “further divide and inflame the passions of the moment” and to focus on smoothing the transition to President-elect Joe Biden’s administration.
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