WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton may have thought it was time for 79-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to step aside last summer.
But the Salem Democrat hailed her decision to launch impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.
“It’s the right decision and it’s about time,” he told the Item.
Despite an early morning telephone call from the president pleading his innocence, the California Democrat stuck with her decision to commence the inquiry.
On Tuesday, Moulton and 234 of his House colleagues were in a closed caucus on Capitol Hill to hear Pelosi’s decision to investigate Trump.
“The strongest voices in the room were veterans who I helped elect,” he said. “They said this is a national security issue which is exactly what the Speaker told the press.”
A whistleblower alleges Trump pressed Ukraine’s leader to look into Democratic rival Joe Biden, according to a rough transcript of the phone call at the center of the Democrats’ presidential impeachment probe.
Trump repeatedly urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to work with U.S. Attorney General William Barr and with Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer. At one point in the conversation, Trump said, “I would like for you to do us a favor.”
The president’s words set the parameters for the debate. The response on Capitol Hill highlighted the deep divide between the two parties and the nation: Democrats said the phone call amounted to a “shakedown” of a foreign leader, while Trump and a majority of Republicans dismissed it as nothing.
After being stymied by the administration, lawmakers on the House and Senate intelligence committees got their first look at the complaint Wednesday. Congress is also seeking an interview with the whistleblower, who remains anonymous.
Democrats who read the document said it supports their commitment to their investigation.
“People forget (former President Richard) Nixon released transcripts of his conversations in 1974 and what happened is the tapes came out and the transcripts did not line up with the tapes,” Moulton said.
Nixon resigned rather than face impeachment after fellow Republicans said it was time for him to go.
“We don’t know if there are any tapes, but we do know it’s important to hear from the whistleblower,” he said. “The fact that the director of national intelligence has blocked some whistleblower from coming to Congress, that in itself is a violation of the law.”
Still, some Democrats say while it’s possible the House, with its Democratic majority, could vote to impeach, the Senate is unlikely to remove Trump from office because Republicans outnumber Democrats.
“We don’t know what the Senate will do,” Moulton said. “It depends on where the probe goes. Thirty percent of the country thought Nixon should be impeached and everyone said the Senate wouldn’t convict. But as more facts came to light in the impeachment inquiry, that shifted so much he resigned before he was convicted.
“The point is to uphold the law,” he said. “That’s what matters.”
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
