All local members of Congress vote against Trump impeachment

Congressmen Turner, Jordan, Davidson and Chabot all support President Trump.

Dayton-area Republican members of Congress criticized the impeachment process as they spoke Wednesday ahead of the historic impeachment vote on President Donald Trump.

All four local Republican members of Congress voted against the two articles of impeachment against the president.

U.S. Mike Turner, a Dayton Republican, said this was a “partisan impeachment by Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff, who have been intent on impeaching this president since before he was sworn into office. A majority of the Democrats that voted today to impeach this president were on record supporting his impeachment prior to the phone call between President Trump and President Zelensky of Ukraine.”

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The vote of the Ohio delegation was along party lines. All Dayton-area members of Congress are Republicans.

U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, condemned the Democrats, saying they disregarded facts and he pointed that Ukraine took no action to get the aid released.

The longest serving member of Congress from Ohio, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, rapped Trump in a press release celebrating a bipartisan spending plan that would provide Ukraine $700 million, in part to fend off Russian aggression. “As the world reels in astonishment at this administration’s politicization of funding for Ukraine, this new action by a steadfast Congress sends a signal of robust bipartisan support for Ukraine’s democratic trajectory, free from Russian aggression,” Kaptur wrote, Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Mentor, a former prosecutor, on wrote on his congressional website that he knows as a former prosecutor that investigations should be free of bias. “However, this impeachment inquiry has operated on a rushed, artificial timeline set by Speaker Pelosi where due process was neglected, the majority of the testimony provided was secondhand, partisan presumptions were presented as facts and proof of impeachable acts was not articulated,” he said. “If I were to vote in favor of the two articles of impeachment today, I would be setting a dangerous precedent for our country moving forward.” The case against President Trump now heads to the U.S. Senate where all 100 senators will serve as jurors. To remove President Trump from office would require 67 votes from a two-thirds majority of the the Senate. The Columbus Dispatch contributed to this report.

“The Democrats forgot two key things: they forgot about facts and they forgot about fairness,” Jordan said.

Jordan said the voters should decide who should be president in the next election.

Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Columbus, took the opposite stance of her Republican colleagues. The Dayton native said “we are a nation of laws, based on the principle that no one is above the law, but this president believes he can do anything he wants. As the record shows and the irrefutable testimonies by Trump Administration officials make crystal clear, President Trump welcomed foreign interference in the 2020 Election, abused the power of the presidency, and tried to cover it all up.”

U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot said the House Democrats are setting a dangerous precedent where impeachment can become the norm, instead of a rare occurrence.

“If Congress disagrees with the president, take it to court. Let the third branch of government decide. They’re the refs,” Chabot said.

Chabot represents Ohio’s first district which includes all of Warren County and most of the Cincinnati area.

WATCH LIVE: House set to vote to impeach President Trump

U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson said that for months, Americans heard speculation but despite months of effort “Americans have not seen proof that the president has committed a high crime or misdemeanor.”

“This is disgraceful, dishonest process. It’s a discredit to this body and to our nation,” Davidson said.

Davidson represents Ohio’s 8th District which includes Butler, Clark, Miami, Preble, Darke and part of Mercer counties.

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