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Palmer Reacts to Transmission of Impeachment Articles to Senate

January 15, 2020

For Immediate Release
Contact: Elizabeth Hance (202) 225-4921

Palmer Reacts to Transmission of Impeachment Articles to Senate

Washington, D.C. – Today, Speaker Nancy Pelosi transmitted the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the U.S. Senate and appointed impeachment managers for the impending Senate trial. Congressman Gary Palmer (AL-06) released the following statement:

"Today's vote to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate and to confirm managers for the Senate trial is a simple continuation of the Democrats' abuse of power that has been evident from the beginning of this sham process.

"Impeachment is one of the most serious and consequential powers entrusted to Congress. With that comes the responsibility to never use it for partisan, political purposes. Removing a President, and in effect overturning an election, should only be done when there is clear and inconvertible evidence of a crime. No such evidence was ever presented by the Democrats.

"There are ample reasons for the Senate to dismiss the House articles. For instance, in his opening statement for the impeachment inquiry, Chairman Adam Schiff lied about what took place in the phone call between President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. When confronted, Chairman Schiff said it wasn't a lie, but a parody. Next, he denied that there was any contact between himself or his staff with the whistleblower. But Schiff was later forced to admit that, once again, he had misled members of Congress and the public, and he admitted that his staff been in direct contact with the whistleblower.

"Prior to this whistleblower's effort to remove President Trump from office, all whistleblower complaints had to be based on first-hand knowledge, not secondhand hearsay. But in this case, the whistleblower complaint form was changed in order to accommodate second-hand information after the complaint had been filed. Moreover, it is required that whistleblowers disclose prior contact with federal officials. But in this case, the contact with Adam Schiff's office was not disclosed on the form.

"Throughout the impeachment proceedings, Chairman Schiff routinely denied Republicans the opportunity to call witnesses and subpoena documents that supported President Trump, and he instructed witnesses not to answer Republican questions. Perhaps worst of all, Representative Earl Blumenauer called for a boycott of the hotel chain owned by Ambassador Gordon Sondland in an effort to force him to testify. This is clearly intimidation of a witness, but Democrats ignored it.

"Finally, after claiming in December that impeaching the President was ‘urgent' and a ‘national security issue,' Speaker Pelosi held the articles for four weeks before finally sending them over to the Senate. What's more, of the seven impeachment managers selected by Pelosi, six of them publicly supported impeaching President Trump before the Ukraine phone call was made public. This is all further proof that the Democrats' impeachment effort is nothing more than attempted political hijacking of an election. It threatens future elections and creates a constitutional crisis that could haunt this nation for years to come.

"The Greek Physician Hippocrates once said, ‘If you are in a bad mood, go for a walk. If you are still in a bad mood, go for another walk.' Democrats have been in a bad mood since President Trump was elected, and the walk that seven members took today to deliver the articles of impeachment to the Senate will not change that. Once the Senate has completed its process, I fully expect that President Trump will still be President and that the Democrats will need another walk. Nothing has changed in the last 28 days. There are still no grounds for impeachment. The Democrats' abuses of power, the politicization of the impeachment process, and the lack of clear evidence of wrongdoing on President Trump's part all make a clear case for the Senate to dismiss these unsubstantiated articles of impeachment. It is time to get back to work on policies that matter to the well-being and safety of America."

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