Maryland’s GOP governor backs impeachment inquiry, but concerned whether it can be ‘fair’

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Friday became the second sitting Republican governor to announce support for the impeachment inquiry into President Trump but questioned whether the Democratic-controlled House was capable of conducting a fair investigation.

{mosads}In an interview with “Firing Line,” Hogan said he hoped Democrats would conduct a “fair and objective” probe while adding that he did not see any other way to get answers from the Trump administration about the president’s efforts to convince Ukraine’s government to open an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, who is a front-runner for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

“I do think we have to have an impeachment inquiry,” Hogan said, adding: “I don’t see any other way to get to the facts.”

“But I’m very concerned about, can we have a fair and objective one, and I’m not sure we can in this Democratic Congress,” he added.

“I do think we have to have an impeachment inquiry,” @GovLarryHogan (R-MD) tells @FiringLineShow, publicly supporting the impeachment inquiry for the first time. He’s concerned about whether it can be “fair and objective” but says, “I don’t see any other way to get to the facts.” pic.twitter.com/Ssy73GE0AJ

— Firing Line with Margaret Hoover (@FiringLineShow) October 11, 2019

Hogan’s break from the GOP’s support for Trump follows that of Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R), who announced his support for an impeachment inquiry late last month. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) has also called for an investigation into news that Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to open a criminal investigation into Biden while delaying military aide to the country.

“It’s a deeply disturbing situation and circumstance and I think the proper role and responsibility for Congress at this point is to investigate it and get to the bottom of it,” Baker said in September while not directly calling for an impeachment inquiry.

Hogan’s role in the impeachment inquiry has historical significance even though he has no vote in Congress: His father, Rep. Lawrence Hogan (R-Md.), was the only GOP member of the House Judiciary Committee in 1974 to vote for all three articles of impeachment against then-President Nixon.