House Gets 2 Trump Impeachment Charges After Judiciary Vote

Speaker 1: 00:00 This is KPBS mid day edition. I'm Maureen Cavanagh, two articles of impeachment against president Donald Trump passed by the house judiciary committee this morning. We'll now move to the house rules committee. A vote by the full house on the impeachment of the president is expected by the middle of next week. If people heard any of the 16 hours of committee debate on the articles, they couldn't miss the partisan anger over the process. Republicans repeatedly lashed out at Democrats and the charges against the president. Democrats pushed Republicans to defend the undisputed actions of the president. Almost no one did. Joining us to discuss this highly charged, highly partisan outcome of the judiciary committee vote is San Diego. Congressman Scott Peters and Congressman Peters, welcome to the program. Speaker 2: 00:48 Thanks for having me, Maureen. Speaker 1: 00:50 As a Democrat, you voted to support the impeachment inquiry against president Trump. Now that you've heard all the testimony, will you vote to support the articles of impeachment against the president come next? Speaker 2: 01:02 I haven't seen them yet, but I fully expect I will. I think there's a, it's the appropriate action to take at this point. Speaker 1: 01:08 Were you satisfied with the two articles of impeachment against the president, obstruction of Congress and abuse of power? Speaker 2: 01:15 The rationale for stopping with these two is that, um, we, you know, the argument of the Republicans is to rely on the election process to deal with the president, but if the election process is itself under assault, uh, which it seems to be from the president, uh, I think we have to act now. So I would have preferred to have seen us, um, take a more comprehensive look at all of the things that came out of the cooperation with Russia and the obstruction of justice issues that the Mueller report came up with. But I understand and I, um, accept the, the notion that, uh, because of the concern about the integrity of the elections and the threats to the constitution, that we take an action this coming week Speaker 1: 01:56 and there are criticisms that the house Democrats are moving too quickly to impeach because of the same issues you just mentioned. Do you believe that they are not moving too quickly to impeach? Speaker 2: 02:08 I believe, uh, we are not moving too quickly. I mean, I think one of the things that you have to that's really stunning here is that the president has absolutely said we're not cooperating at all. He has not asserted a privilege over, um, the testimony of particular witnesses. He's just said, you can't go. You can't even help. Then what we'll let, we'll let it go to the courts. I think the courts will resolve those things in our favor. But it's clearly a delay tactic. It is an obstruction of Congress like we've really never seen before. I mean, the Nixon and Clinton administrations cooperated with the process, respect to the process. We haven't seen that from the Trump administration. And because, um, the Ukraine issues and the Mueller issues involved the integrity of elections because Republicans haven't stepped up and we haven't voted 100% protect our elections. Speaker 2: 02:58 I think this is something that, um, Congress has to do. And remember, Maureen Congress is assigned to impeachment, uh, as a remedy by the constitution. So I fully recognize that there are issues that I disagree with the president Trump on in terms of policy and in style and rhetoric. Those are for the election. I, I'm surprised that voters let them off with a, with, with a lot of the things that he did, but you know, his, his obedience to the constitution and the rule of law is a matter that the constitution assigns the Congress. I think we're fulfilling our duty Speaker 1: 03:27 now given the mixed political makeup of the 52nd district. It's really a purple district with many independents and some Republicans. Are you concerned about any potential political fallout from your vote? Speaker 2: 03:40 No, I that I don't think about that at all. I, I, I've explained to my constituents since June why I think this is the appropriate course to take. I, I believe it should be partisan and we have not gotten any willingness from Republicans to even creep into saying, you know what? This was the wrong thing to do. So I don't think we have a lot of choices. I think it's the right thing to do. I'll tell my constituents that I'll be very upfront with them. I wish we weren't doing it. I wish we didn't have to get to this point, but this is, I think, the inevitable inappropriate result of this investigation and the president's behavior. Speaker 1: 04:12 Now on Sunday, a group of San Diegans will be rallying at waterfront park. It's part of a nationwide day of action in support of impeaching the president. Uh, will you be attending that rally or will you be on your way back to Washington? Speaker 2: 04:25 Uh, neither. I'm, uh, I will not attend that rally. I, I, I don't see this as a political movement. This is a, this is a legal issue and I don't, I don't think it's appropriate to, um, to do rallies. I don't think it's appropriate to do high fives. I think, you know, we should, we should do this soberly. We should look at the evidence. I think rallies are for political issues. This is a legal issue and a constitutional issue. So, uh, no, I won't be going. Um, but you know, I understand, uh, I understand the need to, to, um, express your opinion, so I respect it. But in my role, I don't think it's appropriate. Speaker 1: 04:59 I've been speaking with Congressman Scott Peters of San Diego's 52nd district and Congressman Peters. Thank you. Thanks, Maria. Have a great holidays. You too.