Where SC’s leaders in Congress stand on Trump impeachment efforts
As U.S. House Democrats launch an impeachment inquiry into whether President Donald Trump asked a foreign country to meddle in the 2020 election, South Carolina congressional members have vocally sided with the president.
After the White House released a transcript of a phone call between Trump and the Ukrainian president, several representatives and senators denounced House Democrats’ effort and have derided the allegations against the president.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan, of Laurens, called the impeachment inquiry, launched Tuesday night, “reckless,” and U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, of Rock Hill, called the move a “charade.”
“None of what Democrats said happened on the call between @realDonaldTrump & Ukrainian President Zelensky was true,” Duncan tweeted. “No quid pro quo, no talk of aid, no crimes committed. They moved to impeach yesterday before they even knew the facts.”
Trump ally U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham also issued a statement of staunch support for the president after reading the transcript.
“From my point of view, to impeach any president over a phone call like this would be insane,” said Graham.
The formal impeachment efforts were announced after reports surfaced of a whistleblower accusing Trump of asking Ukraine to investigate political opponent former Vice President Joe Biden.
Wednesday, the White House released the transcript of the call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which showed the president asking his foreign counterpart to work with U.S. Attorney General William Barr to investigate Biden.
The U.S. Justice Department has concluded that the call did not break campaign finance law, and White House officials maintain that the transcript shows Trump did not ask for the investigation in exchange for military aid.
Tuesday night, South Carolina’s congressmen all sounded off on Twitter as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi called for the impeachment inquiry into Trump.
Majority Whip U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, a Columbia Democrat, was the lone voice from South Carolina calling for the move.
“My approach is always to proceed with reason and not emotion, which is why I have supported methodical oversight of this President in order to uncover evidence of any abuses of power,” Clyburn said in a statement from his office.
“Recent revelations and allegations that the President used the power of his office to force a foreign government to attack a political rival, and may be directing subordinates to violate the law requiring the transmission of a whistleblower complaint to Congress, constitute an egregious violation of his constitutional duties.”
Rather than joining his Democratic colleagues in calling for the impeachment hearings, U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham, of Charleston, instead pushed for a “bipartisan effort” to “get to the bottom” of the allegations. He added that “nothing” he has seen since his term of office convinced him to support impeachment.
South Carolina’s Republican congressional delegation nearly unanimously denounced the calls for the inquiry Tuesday night.
Graham, one of Trump’s most vocal and prominent allies, appeared on Fox News with Sean Hannity Tuesday to discuss the move. During the interview, Graham called for the whistleblower to appear in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which he chairs.
“The only reason they’re trying to impeach the president is because they don’t believe they can beat him at the ballot box, or they’re trying to destroy him,” Graham said.
Trump later tweeted the clip from the show, adding that it was “Sooooo true.”
U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, a Charleston Republican, did not issue a statement about the inquiry Tuesday night.
South Carolina’s Republican U.S. representatives each voiced their disapproval:
“Democrats have launched an impeachment inquiry based on a whistle-blower’s secondhand account of a phone call, but couldn’t bother to wait for the actual transcript of the call itself,” U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman tweeted. “That should tell you something.”
U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, of Springdale, called Pelosi’s statements about Trump Tuesday night a “divisive, baseless attack on President Trump.”
“Since President Trump was first elected, Democrats have been obsessively scraping for any sign of alleged wrongdoing by the Administration and citing impeachment,” Wilson tweeted.
U.S. Rep. Tom Rice, of Myrtle Beach, called the move to start the impeachment inquiry “disappointing,” Duncan called it a “witch hunt,” and U.S. Rep. William Timmons, of Greenville, called it “political theater.”
“If Democrats were serious about impeachment they would file Articles of Impeachment and let the House vote,” Timmons tweeted.
This story was originally published September 25, 2019 at 12:54 PM.
