Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

DeLauro: Huge differences between Clinton, Trump impeachment efforts

  • Politics
  • by Ana Radelat
  • November 18, 2019
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

Tom Breen | New Haven Independent

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District.

Washington – Just before the U.S. House began a series of votes to impeach President Bill Clinton, Rep. Rosa DeLauro complained that her colleagues were about to commit a “constitutional assassination.”

“Benjamin Franklin spoke of impeachment as an alternative to assassination,” DeLauro, D-3rd District, proclaimed on the House floor nearly 21 years ago. “Today, this body is contemplating a constitutional assassination.”

She said efforts to impeach Clinton were “driven by a naked partisanship …almost without lawful and civil bounds.”

Now, as the impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump is in its public hearing phase, Republican lawmakers are making similar arguments in defense of the president and Democrats pressing for impeachment.

DeLauro, who favors the investigation into Trump, was one of about 70 sitting members of Congress  — and the only lawmaker from Connecticut — in office when Clinton was impeached, and said there are good reasons for the 180-degree turn in her position.

“The argument to impeach President Clinton was based on him being untruthful about an affair,” she said. “That does not rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors.”

DeLauro said that Trump, “on the other hand, has abused the power of his office by inviting foreign interference into our next election, withholding congressionally approved national security assistance to get help with his re-election campaign, intimidating witnesses who are testifying in the impeachment inquiry, and obstructing justice through continually blocking congressional subpoenas.”

A GOP-led U.S. House voted on Dec. 19, 1998, that the president had lied under oath about the relationship with former intern Monica Lewinsky and tried to conceal evidence in the case. About two months later, Clinton was acquitted by the Senate on both counts as neither received the necessary two-thirds majority vote of the senators present for conviction.

The Trump impeachment inquiry is based on allegations the president upended U.S. foreign policy – and may have hurt an ally’s ability to defend itself —  to dig up dirt on a political opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden.

“Those actions represent an entirely different level of misconduct,” DeLauro said. “Foreign interference in United States elections and witness tampering are illegal, and withholding congressionally approved military aid for that purpose is bribery.”

The Democratic led impeachment inquiry was touched off by a CIA analyst’s complaint, based on what the whistleblower had learned about a phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President  Volodymyr Zelensky. In that July 25 call Trump asked Zelensky to do him a “favor,” by investigating Biden and the former vice president’s son Hunter.

The CIA whistleblower also indicated in his complaint that  Trump pressured Zelensky by withholding nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine, which is at war with Russia.

Before Congress learned of the whisleblower’s complaint in September, DeLauro and most member of Connecticut’s congressional delegation – except for Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District — opposed moving towards impeaching the president. So did House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. But the whistleblower’s complaint changed all of that.

“I decided that it was imperative the House of Representatives pursue an impeachment inquiry after details of President Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky became public,” DeLauro said. “No president of the United States should use their position for personal gain.”

She said by Trump’s pressuring Zelensky to  investigate one of his political opponents “is illegal.”

“By interfering with the next election, President Trump crossed the Rubicon,” DeLauro said. “These actions are a reckless abuse of power, and the only constitutional recourse Congress has is through the power of an impeachment inquiry.”

Trump’s GOP defenders say Ukraine never launched an investigation of the Bidens and the U.S. aid was released to Kiev’s government in September, so there was no quid pro quo.

On CBS’s Face the Nation, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Sunday said Zelensky met five times with senior U.S. officials “and in each of those meetings, never was it talked about linking the security assistance dollars to any type of investigations.”

He said the military aid had been withheld to give the Trump administration some time to  determine the character of the new Ukrainian president. “Remember, we’re talking about Ukraine,” Jordan said. “One of the three most corrupt countries on the planet.”

Jordan said the aid was released after U.S. officials determined Zelensky was “the real deal.”

Sens. Chris Murphy and Ron Johnson meet with Ukrainian President Zelensky in Kiev in September.

The money was also released two days after the whistleblower made his complaint and about a week after Sen. Chris Murphy returned from a trip to Ukraine determined to find out what the holdup was. Other members of Congress were also digging around trying to find out why the money had not been released.

Over the weekend, House Republicans sent a letter to Murphy’s companion on that trip to Kiev in early September, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.,  saying they “reluctantly” want him to testify about what was discussed with Zelensky on that congressional trip.

Trump has called repeatedly called the impeachment inquiry a “witch hunt” and referred to the CIA analyst who made the complaint as a “fake whistleblower.”

But a number of witnesses have corroborated the whistleblower’s account – and provided additional information about Trump’s goals in Ukraine – during closed door interviews whose transcripts have been made public.

Some of those witnesses, including current U.S. ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor and former ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testified in public hearings before the House Intelligence Committee last week.

Other witnesses are scheduled to testify before the panel this week, including U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, who has been identified by multiple House impeachment witnesses as a central player in the Trump effort to press Ukraine to investigate the Bidens.

In a pair of tweets on Monday, Trump said he will “strongly consider” an offer by Pelosi to offer written testimony to the House impeachment panel.

Pelosi has indicated the House investigation of the president may bleed into next year. But some House Democrats say they have learned enough and are ready to vote to impeach the president.

But DeLauro isn’t ready to do that.

“I will continue to watch the impeachment hearings, examine the facts presented by the witnesses, and  reserve my judgement until the process runs its course,” she said.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ana Radelat Ana has written about politics and policy in Washington, D.C.. for Gannett, Thompson Reuters and UPI. She was a special correspondent for the Miami Herald, and a regular contributor to The New York TImes, Advertising Age and several other publications. She has also worked in broadcast journalism, for CNN and several local NPR stations. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Journalism.

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Connecticut House joins national civil rights campaign over Black hair styles
by Mark Pazniokas

The Connecticut House voted for a bill intended to protect Black women from discrimination over their hair.

CT legislature poised to make early budget pledge to help cities and towns
by Keith M. Phaneuf

The state House is expected to approve more than $100 million in new, annual PILOT grants to municipalities.

Connecticut GOP picks Susan Hatfield as state chair
by Mark Pazniokas

Susan Hatfield, vice chair of the Connecticut Republican Party, will complete the term of the former chair, J.R. Romano.

Senator alleges voter fraud, but no complaint was filed
by Mark Pazniokas

Rob Sampson said a voter in his district was told an absentee ballot already had been cast in her name.

Boston Fed chief predicts strong economic recovery begins in 2nd half of 2021 if vaccine reaches enough people
by Keith M. Phaneuf

A strong economic rebound also depends on states helping those hit hardest by COVID-19, a federal reserve official said.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion The historical basis of zoning begs for reform
by Lawrence Rizzolo

Discussions of race are fraught with emotion. Witness the zoning reforms being discussed in our legislature. I will attempt to advance a dispassionate argument that is based on government-sponsored racism that occurred during my lifetime and led to the structural problems that persist today.

Opinion Lamont must stop waffling on the Killingly power plant issue
by Tennyson Benedict

On January 19, Gov. Ned Lamont gave his bluntest comments yet regarding the controversial Killingly natural gas plant, saying, “I don’t want to build Killingly.”  Yet, Lamont still refuses to wield his executive authority to actually stop its construction, and instead offers vague suggestions that market forces will stop the plant’s construction.

Opinion Religious freedom is less than righteousness
by Spencer Hill

The CT Viewpoints opinion “Religious freedom is more than religion” shows just how entrenched is the sincerely held belief that one man’s notion of “freedom” dictates the liberty of others.

Opinion To boost economy, state should invest in the ‘last mile’ of broadband connectivity
by Thomas J. Peters, Ph.D

In his budget address on February 10,   Gov. Ned Lamont announced his intent to expand broadband connectivity in Connecticut, an effort to be lauded. Connecticut enjoys a significant competitive advantage for economic development in the Connecticut Education Network (CEN), “ a 2,500 route mile, all optical, high-performance internet network.”

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO