Update Sept. 25: The White House as released a readout that memorializes the phone call between President Trump and the leader of Ukraine. You can read that here. Our original story continues below.
--
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has launched a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, and Colorado's Democratic representatives are behind her.
The House Speaker announced the inquiry during a video statement at 3 p.m. MT.
The move comes after controversy erupted over a July phone call where President Donald Trump reportedly pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate former vice president, and current Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden and his son.
Democrats in Colorado's delegation to Congress support the decision to open an inquiry.
Republicans in Colorado's delegation have not rushed to comment on Pelosi's decision to open an investigation. Reps. Ken Buck and Scott Tipton have not released statements or said anything on Twitter so far.
The state GOP office did release a statement from its senior party advisor Don Ytterberg.
"Last week, Democrats wanted to impeach Justice Kavanaugh. This week, they want to impeach President Trump. Who will it be next week?" Ytterberg said in the statement "Time and again Democrats' accusations have proven false, but yet again they are putting their political ambition ahead of solving problems for hardworking Coloradans. It is clear that Nancy Pelosi has lost control over her caucus and has yielded to the far-left wing of her party. Democrats like Jason Crow will regret siding with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib over the people of Colorado."
Sen. Michael Bennet (Democrat)
Rep. Scott Tipton (Republican - District 3)
"The administration is correct to release the full transcript of the phone call in question, the whistleblower complaint and the IG report to the American public as it is important that all the facts be laid on the table for a thorough review. Calls for impeachment at this point are premature."
Rep. Doug Lamborn (Republican - District 5)
The Republican representative dismissed the inquiry in a statement:
Since day one, Democrats have been trying to wrongly impeach the duly elected President. The Mueller report demonstrated there was no collusion or obstruction by President Trump, and now Democrats have jumped to their next partisan accusation. Instead of spending their time working on solutions for the American people, Democrats continue to pander to their radical base and put politics before progress. To call for impeachment before the transcript has been released demonstrates their willingness to disregard reason and facts. Democrats should instead be conducting a formal investigation into Hunter Biden's corruption with Ukrainian oligarchs.
Rep. Ed Perlmutter (Democrat - District 7)
The Democratic representative called for a combined effort from House members in a statement:
I support the formal impeachment inquiry announced by the Speaker. In light of what we know from the investigations so far, and particularly after recent developments dealing with the whistleblower complaint and Ukraine, it is time to bring all six committees under the umbrella of a formal impeachment inquiry and accelerate the House’s investigations to ensure the Constitution, the rule of law and our national security are protected and defended.
Rep. Diana DeGette (Democrat - District 1)
The Democratic representative set an urgent tone in her statement:
The president’s own admission that he urged a foreign power to intervene in our election process constitutes an impeachable offense. We need to gather the evidence and complete this impeachment inquiry immediately given the threat this poses to our national security.
Rep. Jason Crow (Democrat - District 6)
Rep. Joe Neguse (Democrat - District 2)
The Democratic representative supported the inquiry in a statement:
The President has shown complete disregard for the law, the office of the Presidency and our Constitution. In the last week, we learned that he pressured Ukrainian officials to launch an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden. There is no question that inviting political interference in our democratic process is an impeachable offense.
These new allegations come on the heels of wholesale obstruction of Congress that the President has been engaged in since the release of the Special Counsel’s report. He has ignored subpoenas, instructed Administration officials not to come before Congress, exercised false executive privilege and now refuses to hand over this whistleblower complaint and the underlying evidence in its entirety, which Congress is entitled to by law.
Donald Trump has abused the Presidency and the law. We must move forward with impeachment immediately.
Sen. Cory Gardner (Republican)
Colorado's Republican senator said in a statement that an impeachment inquiry went too far:
Today the Senate unanimously voiced its support for the full release of the whistleblower report and the Senate Intelligence Committee will be conducting a formal inquiry, which I support. Starting an impeachment inquiry to appease the far-left is something the majority of Americans do not support and will sharply divide the country. Instead, we should focus our efforts on finding real, bipartisan solutions to lower health care costs, solve our broken immigration system, and protect our public lands.
Gardner also talked about the Ukraine call when he went on the Ross Kaminsky Show earlier in the day Tuesday.
| KAMINSKY: I do want to ask you about this whole, quote/unquote, “whistleblower” thing going on, because this is leading the news everywhere. In my mind, it’s a special kind of bone-headedness, for a guy who’s just been through three years of what Trump went through, being accused of, quote/unquote, “collusion” with an Eastern European government, to then go ask an Eastern European leader to do something that involves our election. But I think, really, the big question that this might — kind of the linchpin, here, is whether there was some kind of direct quid pro quo regarding money or military aid. GARDNER: Well, I think what has to happen is, step back from the politicization of this — [the politicization] that you’ve already seen rampant on the headlines. And get the information. I think that is simply what we have to do, follow the process of the Intel Committee which is in an effort right now to get the information, to hold a hearing, and to have a briefing. And I think that’s the kind of thing that we need to do — to get the information — because this is serious, and that’s why it should be taken seriously, and not just in the context of an election. KAMINSKY: I mean, how serious is it, in your mind? GARDNER: Well, we have to get the information. I mean, there have been miscellaneous reports about whether the whistleblower was actually on the call, or in the call, or whether he was — whether he or she was receiving this information through a read-out which many, many other people got. So, I’m not going to speculate. But what I do think we need to do is follow the law, follow the process, and make sure that we get the information. |
This is a developing story and will be updated.
