Impeachment Inquiry Vote Will Determine Legacies of U.S. Representatives

Statement of Karen Hobert Flynn, President of Common Cause

Today’s vote is a defining moment for every member of the U.S. House of Representatives. History is watching as Republican Members will weigh the choice of casting a vote for their country or for their party. Amidst a growing list of witnesses testifying about shocking abuses of power by the Trump administration and the president’s inner circle and seismic shifts in public disapproval of the president’s conduct, this is the first time many Members will be asked to cast a formal vote that will put them on the right—or wrong—side of history.

To cast a vote to stop the impeachment inquiry and ignore the testimony and evidence amassed already would be to condone the abuse of power by the President of the United States. A vote to stop the inquiry is nothing short of a violation of a Member’s oath of office. The evidence must be pursued for our democracy to survive.

Almost daily more comes to light about President Trump’s ongoing abuse of the powers of his office. A string of witnesses has testified that the President held back congressional appropriations of nearly $400 million in order to push the Ukrainian president to investigate his political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

Regarding this same series of events, Common Cause filed a formal complaint last month with the Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission alleging that President Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and other political operatives violated federal campaign finance laws by soliciting a political contribution from a foreign national—by urging the Ukrainian president to investigate the Bidens.

In recent months, and right up to today’s vote, Common Cause has mobilized its 1.2 million members to help drive additional Member support for an impeachment inquiry in the U.S. House of Representatives. Common Cause initially called for the investigation on July 24, sending a report to every member of the House, making the case, and stressing the need, for the impeachment inquiry. Simultaneously we launched a website ImpeachmentInquiry.org to track Representatives’ positions on the impeachment inquiry and to facilitate public outreach to House Members to urge them to support such an investigation.

To read Common Cause’s DOJ and FEC complaints, click here.

To view the ImpeachmentInquiry.org website, click here.

To view the full Common Cause impeachment inquiry report to Congress, click here.