Trump honors Oklahoma family in his State of the Union address

Efforts by Congressional Democrats – including U.S. Rep. Kendra Horn, D-Oklahoma – to remove President Donald Trump from office were easily defeated February 5 as a majority of U.S. senators voted down both articles of impeachment.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat majority in the House, who voted to impeach Trump over charges of “abuse of power” and “obstruction of Congress.”

The abuse of power charge failed by a vote of 52-48 and the obstruction of Congress failed by a 53-47 vote. A two-thirds majority (67 votes) is required to remove a sitting president.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, was the only senator to break ranks. He voted yes on abuse of power and no on obstruction of Congress. Romney, who lost the 2012 election to former President Barack Hussein Obama, applied for a cabinet position with Trump  but was rejected.

House Democrats claimed that Trump betrayed the country by asking the Ukrainian president in a phone call to investigate corruption in connection with the 2016 election.

Democrats control the House and Republicans control the Senate. No one predicted that the Senate would vote to remove Trump. No Republicans in the House voted for the impeachment.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, spoke about the dangers of Democrat partisans who aim to take down institutions that come up with the outcomes the Democrats desire.

“This partisan impeachment will end today,” McConnell said. “But, I fear the threat to our institutions may not. Normally, when a party loses an election, it accepts defeat. … but not this time.”

McConnell pointed out that leading Democrats — including Hillary Clinton and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California — have already challenged the validity of the 2020 presidential election with unsubstantiated claims that the Trump’s campaign colluded with Russians.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigated Trump’s campaign for more than two years and reported that there was no collusion between Trump and the Russians.

Some Congressional Democrats had called for Trump’s impeachment after his election in November of 2016 but before he even took office. Pelosi started impeachment activity last September and after the vote, she delayed sending over the paperwork for more than 30 days in an effort to control how the Senate would conduct the trial. Pelosi’s strategy failed.

The Republican Party of Tulsa County was “pleased, but not surprised that the vote in the United States Senate came out as expected.”

“We applaud Senator Inhofe and Senator Lankford for their thoughtful and courageous votes to acquit the President,” said Bob Jack Tulsa County GOP chairman.”We call on the Democrats to stop any further senseless investigations and work in a bipartisan manner focusing on the real issues that face America.  Debt reduction, strong military, eliminating regulations on job creators, infrastructure, immigration reform and securing our borders must be the focus of Congress.  We support President Trump and the Oklahoma Delegation in their continued commitment to “Make America Great.”

Meanwhile, Trump delivered a positive message to the nation in his State of the Union address on February 4, the night before his acquittal in the Senate.

Two of Trump’s guests in the gallery were the widow and son of Staff Sgt. Christopher Hake of Enid, Oklahoma. Hake was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2008 when he son, Gage, was only 1 years old. Gage and his mother, Kelli Hake, now live in Stillwater. Hake enlisted in the Army shortly after graduation from Oklahoma Bible Academy in 2000.

Trump said Hake was killed at the hands of Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian general killed by an American drone strike last month. Trump’s order to kill Soleimani has been criticized by almost every  Democrat running for president.

“Kelli Hake was at home with her one-year-old son, Gage, when she learned that her husband, Army Staff Sergeant Christopher Hake, had been killed while serving his second tour of duty in Iraq,” said U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Oklahoma. “While on patrol, Staff Sergeant Hake’s fighting vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb supplied by Iranian terrorist leader Soleimani.”

“Most moving part of it for me tonight, by far, was an Oklahoma family that was here tonight,” said U.S.Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma. “ Kelli and Gage Hake from Stillwater were in the crowd tonight, in the gallery. The President introduced them because Christopher Hake several years ago was in Iraq in his second tour of duty he was killed in improvised explosive device there. The President read a letter that Christopher had written to his son when was one-year-old. Now his son is 13, and he read the letter that the dad was writing to his son at that time. It was exceptionally moving, to say the least.

“But the President also identified the improvised explosive device in Iraq that Christopher Hake had been killed with was actually designed and implemented by the group around Soleimani, the terrorist leader in Iran. That the United States just took out just a few weeks ago based on his terrorist activity and continuing to be able to attack Americans.”

Pelosi has drawn harsh criticism from Republicans and Democrats because at the end of Trump’s speech, she picked up the official House copy of his remarks and tore it into pieces.

“From day one, this has been entirely politically driven and it’s no surprise that President Trump was acquitted today,” said U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Oklahoma. “Throughout this entire impeachment process one fact has remained the same: President Trump has not committed a single impeachable offense. I hope we can move on from this and focus on delivering results for the American people.”

Brad Parscale, Trump 2020 campaign manager, praised the votes.

“President Trump has been totally vindicated and it’s now time to get back to the business of the American people,” Parscale. “The do-nothing Democrats know they can’t beat him, so they had to impeach him.

“This terrible ordeal was always a campaign tactic to invalidate the 2016 votes of 63 million Americans and was a transparent effort to interfere with the 2020 election only nine months away. And since the President’s campaign only got bigger and stronger as a result of this nonsense, this impeachment hoax will go down as the worst miscalculation in American political history.”