Rep. Elissa Slotkin explains why she is voting yes on articles of impeachment against President Trump
President Trump requested a foreign power investigate a political rival for his personal benefit, says Michigan Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, Democratic member of the House Homeland Security Committee.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., a freshman lawmaker who represents a swing district that backed President Trump in 2016, said on "America's Newsroom" that she will vote for impeachment later on Wednesday because she believes the evidence shows Trump acted in his personal interest, rather than on behalf of the country.
Slotkin wrote in a Monday op-ed that while she previously did not join her party's calls for Trump's ouster, she believed the body of evidence regarding the president's dealings with Ukraine is too much to let voters decide Trump's fate in November.
In an interview last Friday, she told host Bill Hemmer that she was undecided on impeachment and planned to spend the weekend reviewing the documents, witness testimony and the Constitution.
"I just did what I normally do as a CIA officer, which is I took all the documents, all the reports, all the rebuttal documents, the transcripts, the founding documents of the Constitution, the Federalist Papers and I spread them all out over my desk and spent the weekend going through step-by-step," she explained, saying she felt "in her bones" that impeachment is necessary.
"It reinforced the original problem I had with the whole issue. The president, as he acknowledged and his lawyer acknowledged, repeatedly reached out to a foreigner and asked for help investigating a political rival for the president’s personal benefit, not for the benefit of the country," she said, lamenting that none of her Republican colleagues view the issue the same way.
"I know there is a lot of pressure but some things are beyond politics and I had hoped that some of my colleagues would see the same thing. I don’t think history will reflect well on this moment in time. And I was saddened that some of them decided not to do this," said Slotkin.
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Slotkin is among a group of 31 Democrats who flipped districts in 2018 where Trump defeated Hillary Clinton two years prior. She maintained she did not make the decision based on "political expediency" and said she hopes her constituents understand why she made the decision.
"I have a lot of faith in the Michigan voters that even if they don’t agree with me, they see that I made this decision from a principled place. I know it sounds different maybe, but to me, my integrity is more important than just political expediency," said Slotkin.
Debate on the historic articles of impeachment got off to a slow start Wednesday with Republicans unleashing delay tactics from the onset, only to be overruled by majority Democrats.
Shortly after the House gaveled in at 9 a.m., one GOP member forced a vote on whether to adjourn -- requiring lawmakers to head to the floor before the debate even started.
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“I just moved for the House to adjourn so that we can stop wasting America's time on impeachment,” tweeted Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz. “Republicans stand united against this radical, vindictive, partisan sham by the Democrats.”
The ill-fated motion kicked off what is expected to be a long day in the deeply divided House, where Democrats believe it’s their solemn duty to impeach the president to preserve the democracy and the integrity of elections. Meanwhile, Republicans have dismissed the impeachment as an illegitimate way to undo the results of the 2016 election.
Fox News' Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.
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