Rep. Horn, D-Okla. votes to impeach the President

After a partisan impeachment of President Trump by the Democrat majority in the U.S. House, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blasted a scheme by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to delay sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate.

In fact, Pelosi, who couldn’t even get every Democrat in the House to vote against Trump, may never send the articles to the Senate despite a clear constitutional mandate.

McConnell called the House impeachment “shoddy work” and said the Democrats may be “too afraid” to send the articles to the Senate.

“This particular House of Representatives has let its partisan rage at this particular president create a toxic new precedent that will echo well into the future,” McConnell said. “Looks like the prosecutors are getting cold feet.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., wrote on Twitter, “If House Dems refuse to send Articles of Impeachment to the Senate for trial it would be a breathtaking violation of the Constitution, an act of political cowardice, and fundamentally unfair to President Trump.”

Democrats voted on two articles of impeachment. One was for a nebulous “abuse of power” and the second was for “obstruction of Congress.”

Meanwhile, four of the five members of the House from Oklahoma voted no on impeachment while U.S. Rep. Kendra Horn, D-Oklahoma, voted to impeach Trump.

“The President obstructed Congress by withholding evidence, refusing to comply with lawful subpoenas, and prohibiting administration officials from doing so as well,” Horn wrote in a press release.

Other Oklahoma lawmakers disagreed.

 “Today’s vote sadly marks the climax of a flawed and partisan process that House Democrats used to impeach President Trump, and I am very concerned that they did so with questionable evidence and insufficient grounds,” said U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma. “In the short term, this sharpens partisanship and political differences nationwide, but it will also make it much more difficult to enact meaningful and bipartisan legislation in the future. More alarming in the long term, this action sets an unfair precedent that runs the risk of legitimizing impeachment as an acceptable weapon that can now be used in partisan political warfare. That should concern every single one of us.”

As Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee, Cole participated in the committee’s hearing which set the terms of floor debate for the impeachment articles on the House floor.

U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Oklahoma,  said this has been a three-year effort by Democrats to remove Trump.

“From day one, they have been trying to impeach the president,” Mullin said. “Nancy Pelosi, on the day she said they were going to impeach the President of the United States and brought forth the articles of impeachment, said this was two and a half years in the making.

“This is not what our Founding Fathers intended for us to do when they put in the articles of impeachment. It was never designed for political motivation. It was never designed to be used the way Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff have done it.”

U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Oklahoma, voted no on both articles.

“Today was a disappointing day for millions of Americans,” said Hern. “Impeachment is the most severe action the legislative branch can take against the executive branch, and it should be treated with the weight and gravitas it deserves. That did not happen here. A rushed process, a pre-determined outcome, and a complete lack of factual findings led us to this vote today – I could never betray the people of Oklahoma by supporting it.

 “Many of my far-left colleagues ran on the sole platform of impeaching the President. This has been their goal since the day President Trump was elected, and they don’t deny it. History will not look kindly on this vote tonight, nor on the events leading up to it. If the government can treat its own president with so little regard for due process and human decency, who’s to say they can’t do it to you and me?”

U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas also voted no.

“For months, Americans have witnessed impeachment proceedings unlike any other in modern history,” Lucas said. “From the very beginning, House Democrats blatantly disregarded historical and institutional practices to instead partake in a flawed, partisan probe. There’s only one thing that’s been made clear by today’s partisan impeachment vote: this unjust impeachment is a disservice to the American people.

“Our institution deserves better than this. Oklahomans deserve better than this. And our nation deserves better than this.”

On abuse of power, 230 Democrats voted yes while every Republican (197) voted no. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, vote “present” – breaking ranks with Pelosi.

“I also could not in good conscience vote for impeachment because removal of a sitting President must not be the culmination of a partisan process, fueled by tribal animosities that have so gravely divided our country,” Gabbard said.

“When I cast my vote in support of the impeachment inquiry nearly three months ago, I said that in order to maintain the integrity of this solemn undertaking, it must not be a partisan endeavor,” she continued. “Tragically, that’s what it has been.”

Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-New Jersey, and Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minnesota, voted no on both charges.