Wisconsin Democrats, Republicans react to President Trump's impeachment

Rare is the day that I’m at a loss for words, but I find myself reflecting on life and service over these past few historic weeks.

I understand the struggles and sacrifices it takes to achieve the American dream. My father toiled long hours as a factory worker. My mother served as a dedicated, proud public-school teacher. They worked very hard to provide for me and my eight brothers and sisters. I went from being a young single mother dependent on welfare to becoming the first African American woman to represent Wisconsin in Congress.

I am in Washington to push for issues like the Violence Against Women Act and the Affordable Care Act that positively affect our lives and the lives of the ones we love and our future. I have been sworn into the United States House of Representatives eight times and each and every time, I take an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America. I am beholden not to partisan politics. I am beholden to the Constitution.

I did not come to Washington to impeach a President. I came to Washington to do the job you elected me to do. However, part of my job as your Congresswoman is being a check on the Executive Branch. Today, my job meant voting for impeachment – not because I’m a Democrat but based on facts and evidence of gross misconduct.

I implore every single one of my fellow members of the United States House of Representatives to do their job, to protect the oath they took, and uphold the Constitution. 

These are troubling times for our country. These are historic times for our nation and future generations to come. History will remember us for what we do. I pray we all do the right thing.

Together #WeRise,

Congresswoman Gwen Moore

Today, I voted against impeaching President Trump. From the start, I have been opposed to impeachment. Although the Senate is now tied up with the impeachment trial, the House should get to work on issues impacting Americans: tackling the rising costs of health care, securing our border, and addresing our national debt.

Speaker Pelosi has acknowledged that something as divisive as impeachment should be ‘compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan.’ Yet from day one, she rushed this process, moved the goal posts, and failed to live up to her own words about the gravity of impeachment.

What we are seeing here is unprecedented: it’s the first time articles of impeachment have failed to make any criminal accusation, and it’s the first time a president has been impeached without bipartisan support. The fact that the bipartisan vote was actually against impeachment should come as no surprise given this flawed process and lack of clear evidence. Common sense Wisconsinites just want their representatives to come together to fix the many problems our country faces, and I hope we can do that in the new year. A state of perpetual impeachment must not become the new normal.

House Democrats just chose to launch a sham impeachment that prioritizes partisanship over the American people. Democrats have proven that their only agenda is to tear down President Trump and advance their partisan games.

Democrats like Rep. Ron Kind have tried to conceal their stance on the issue when they knew how they would vote weeks, if not months. Today’s vote displays the sad state of politics where Rep. Ron Kind and other Democrats want to see President Trump fail at the expense of the American people.

Today will go down in history as the day Nancy Pelosi officially walked her caucus off a cliff – and Ron Kind followed. Today’s vote not only shows just how unhinged the Democrat Party has become, but shows how little they care for the American people. The voters will not forget when they go to the ballot box in November.

Today marks the culmination in the House of one of the most shameful political episodes in the history of our Nation. Without receiving a single Republican vote, and without providing any proof of wrongdoing, Democrats pushed illegitimate articles of impeachment against the President through the House of Representatives. Democrats have chosen to proceed on this partisan basis in spite of the fact that the President did absolutely nothing wrong. Indeed, weeks of hearings have proved that he did nothing wrong.

Throughout the House Democrats’ entire sham impeachment, the President was denied fundamental fairness and due process under the law. The House blatantly ignored precedent and conducted the inquiry in secrecy behind closed doors so that Chairman Adam Schiff and his partisan political cronies could selectively leak information to their partners in the media to push a false narrative.

When public hearings were held before Chairman Schiff’s committee, Democrats continued their games and denied the President the ability to cross-examine witnesses or present witnesses or evidence. The proceedings in the Judiciary Committee included no fact witnesses at all and consisted solely of a biased law seminar and a staffer rehashing the slanted report that was produced by Chairman Schiff’s rigged proceeding. This unconstitutional travesty resulted in two baseless articles of impeachment that lack any support in evidence and fail even to describe any impeachable offense.

All of these antics make clear that Democrats have lost sight of what this country needs, which is a Congress that works for the people. Their boundless animus for President Trump fuels their desire to nullify the 2016 election results, and improperly influence the 2020 election.

The American people are not fooled by this disgraceful behavior. They understand fairness, due process, and substantial, reliable evidence are required before any American should be charged with wrongdoing—and certainly before impeaching a duly elected President.

The President is confident the Senate will restore regular order, fairness, and due process, all of which were ignored in the House proceedings. He is prepared for the next steps and confident that he will be fully exonerated. President Trump will continue to work tirelessly to address the needs and priorities of the American people, as he has since the day he took office.

History was made today, but not in a way Democrats had hoped. With this vote, Nancy Pelosi and her fellow impeachment crusaders have ensured the reelection of President Trump and a return of a Republican majority in the House," said Chairwoman McDaniel. "The American people have turned on this partisan sham and see Democrats in Congress for what they truly are: politicians whose sole focus is to overturn the result of the 2016 election, not on the real issues they promised to address. In 2020, voters will re-elect President Trump and choose candidates who will truly work on their behalf instead of obsessing over destroying a duly-elected President.