Democratic strategist Andrew Feldman defended the decision by House Democrats to impeach President Trump, calling it their “moral obligation.”
“This is the congressional duty of Democrats in Congress and everyone in Congress. There are clear violations here that are impeachable by the president, and this is the moral obligation to do their job,” Feldman, founder of the progressive firm Feldman Strategies, told Hill.TV during an interview that aired Tuesday.
However, he said Democrats, particularly the presidential candidates, could do a better job of connecting impeachment to top issues like health care and immigration that voters care about.
“We are not able to do anything on health care,” he said. “We’re not able to do anything on immigration or anything on the issues you care about because the president is tied into corrupt, impeachable offenses.”
During the last week’s Democratic presidential debate, businessman Andrew Yang criticized his fellow White House hopefuls for being “obsessed” with impeachment, arguing the party should instead be “solving the problems that got Trump elected in the first place.”
House Democrats last week passed two articles of impeachment: abuse of power concerning Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and obstruction of Congress for his efforts to impede the subsequent House investigation.
The two articles passed largely along party lines, and the process is expected to move to the Senate for a trial in January. The exact timing of the trial is up in the air, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calf.) has delayed sending the articles to the upper chamber, citing concerns about whether the GOP-controlled Senate would conduct a fair trial.
The impeachment vote caps off nearly three months of investigation by the House centered on Trump’s actions with Ukraine. The investigation was sparked by a whistleblower’s complaint alleging that the president had threatened to withhold military aid and a White House meeting until Ukraine opened politically-motivated investigations into his rivals.
Trump, who has long decried the probe as a “witch hunt,” attacked Democrats over their impeachment efforts following a video call with U.S. service members on Christmas Eve, claiming Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “hates the Republican Party.”
—Tess Bonn
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