GOP Rep. Bradley Byrne (Ala.), who offered the sole amendment to articles of impeachment in the House Rules Committee, on Wednesday railed on the House floor against Democrats for rejecting the change ahead of the impeachment vote.
The amendment would have struck language alleging President Trump consistently attempted to undermine investigations and replace it with language stating the president acted consistently with the previous administration’s behavior during congressional probes.
“These actions were strikingly similar to the conduct of President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder when they defied a lawful subpoena issued by the Committee on Oversight & Government Reform of the House of Representatives related to the Fast and Furious investigation and it is the sense of Congress that based upon the standard contained in this article, articles of impeachment should have been brought against both of those individuals,” the amendment read.
Byrne, who is currently running for Senate in Alabama, has been a vocal opponent of impeachment and adamant defender of the president since Democrats launched the inquiry earlier this year. The Alabama Republican has repeatedly blasted the probe into the president’s handling of foreign policy in Ukraine as a partisan “witch hunt,” arguing Democrats are attempting to unwind the results of the 2016 election.
“Most of my friends on the other side of the aisle had no problem backing President Obama when he stonewalled this House for years to block our quest to find out the truth in the Fast and Furious investigation,” he said on the floor.
“That is why I filed an amendment to the resolution, rejected by the Rules Committee, saying, based upon the Democrat majority’s standard, they should have written articles of impeachment against President Obama and Eric Holder. I wish my colleagues would think about the standard being set. I predict that they will very soon regret it.”
Democrats unveiled the two articles of impeachment last week, one of which pertained to abuse of power and the other relating to obstruction of Congress, which were first marked up in the House Judiciary Committee before heading to the House Rules Committee on Tuesday.
The articles are expected to pass along party lines on Wednesday evening, setting up an impeachment trial in the Senate.
While Republicans have been highly critical of impeachment, Democrats have fiercely defended the probe, arguing they conducted a fair and crucial investigation into potential corruption. Just two Democrats, Reps. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) and Jefferson Van Drew (D-N.J.), the latter of whom is reportedly planning to switch parties, are expected to vote against both measures.