Local House members stick with GOP colleagues on impeachment

The region’s congressmen, Tom Reed and John Katko, voted with their Republican colleagues last night against impeaching President Donald Trump.

Democrats alleged the President abused the power of his of office when he asked Ukraine’s president to investigate Democratic political rival Joe Biden and others while withholding nearly $400 million in military assistance to the country.

In a conference call with members of the media Wednesday morning, and after voting no on a procedural vote that laid the ground rules for proceeding with the impeachment, Reed, R-23 of Corning, once again reiterated that Trump’s actions did not rise to the level of impeachment. And he predicted that the Senate, controlled by Republicans, would quickly vote against it.

“Does it cross the initial hurdle of an impeachable offense?” he asked. “I think that’s one of the fundamental issues that can be adjudicated very quickly by the Senate. There is no ‘smoking gun’ evidence and no clear, compelling case, based on clear and convincing evidence, that a high crime was committed here.”