Schumer throws support behind Pelosi impeachment inquiry
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday threw his support behind Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) decision to launch a formal impeachment inquiry against President Trump.
“I strongly support Speaker Pelosi’s decision. If we don’t reckon with President Trump’s persistent transgressions, the very foundation of this great republic is at risk,” Schumer said.
{mosads}”The president kept pushing and pushing and pushing the constitutional envelope. Finally, the president’s conduct made an impeachment inquiry unavoidable,” Schumer added.
Schumer’s comments come after Pelosi announced on Tuesday evening that the House would launch a formal inquiry following an onslaught of pressure over reports that Trump and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani pressured Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
The Trump administration released a five-page partial transcript on Wednesday of a call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump, according to notes of the call released by the White House, asked Zelensky to work with Giuliani and expressed hope that he “can look into” Biden’s role in the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor.
Schumer has sidestepped taking a position on impeachment for months. Asked on Tuesday if the complaint warranted an impeachment inquiry into Trump he demurred except to say that he supported Pelosi, who had not yet announced the formal inquiry.
Schumer noted on Wednesday that he had spoken with Pelosi “many times.”
“I know she did not make this decision lightly and took no pleasure in making it. It is her carefully considered judgment that it is now in the best interest of our country and our Constitution to proceed with an impeachment inquiry,” he said.
He added that recent developments raised questions about whether Trump “abused the powers of his office and betrayed the public trust for personal political gain.”
“The answers to these questions, and others, can be pursued by the House committees involved in the impeachment inquiry, and that is precisely what the inquiry is for,” he added.
Schumer’s support for an impeachment inquiry comes after Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the No. 2 Senate Democrat, endorsed the effort on Tuesday before Pelosi’s announcement.
“I think the House has to initiate an impeachment inquiry as a means of securing the documents and witnesses necessary to understand the whole story, and particularly the latest chapter involving Ukraine,” Durbin told a small group of reporters.
Sens. Patty Murray (Wash.) and Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), the No. 3 and No. 4 Senate Democrats, said in July that they would support an impeachment inquiry.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
