Obama would have been impeached for Trump’s alleged actions, ex-SC GOP congressman says
Former S.C. Republican congressman Bob Inglis said President Barack Obama would have been impeached if he had done the same thing President Donald Trump is alleged to have done.
Inglis, who was kicked out of office after losing the 2010 GOP primary for South Carolina’s 4th Congressional District, tweeted Friday about the ongoing impeachment hearings targeting Trump.
“I was on the Judiciary Committee that impeached Bill Clinton,” Inglis tweeted. “The matters before us now are far more serious than those matters were. Without a doubt, if Barack Obama had done the things revealed in the testimony in the current inquiry, we Republicans would have impeached him.”
Inglis recognizes this may be an unpopular opinion among Republicans.
“Let the re-evaluation of my party begin, because I think the Republican Party needs to have a course correction,” Inglis said Friday in an interview with The State. “We have strayed substantially from our free enterprise, rule of law, individual responsibility, (and) fiscal responsibility creeds into a place that is unrecognizable.”
He added Republicans are condoning foul talk and foul actions.
Inglis is one of two people suing the South Carolina Republican Party for deciding not to hold a presidential primary in 2020, preventing declared challengers from competing with Trump for the state’s delegates.
That lawsuit is awaiting a judge’s ruling.
The House Intelligence Committee this week held impeachment hearings to probe whether Trump directed a quid pro quo arrangement with Ukraine, withholding U.S. aid to the country unless its president agreed to investigate Biden, who could be Trump’s opponent in November, and his son.
Among the revelations from this week’s televised hearings, U.S. Ambassador Gordon Sondland testified that Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani sought a quid pro quo with Ukraine, seeking an investigation into the Bidens in exchange for foreign aid. Sondland also said Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were aware of Giuliani’s efforts.
“What I want Republicans to think about is if Barack Obama had done what is alleged here would we have impeached him?” Inglis told The State Friday. “The answer is clearly ‘yes.’”
Inglis called the witnesses who have testified in the hearings “amazing public servants.”
“There are people who are dedicated to the rule of law and report things up the chain of command and who take action when they see things that are corrupt, and they call them out. It’s an opportunity to celebrate that,” Inglis said. “That’s who we are as Americans.”
He specifically called former White House Russia expert Fiona Hill and State Department official David Holmes, who testified on Thursday, the “glue holding the republic together at this point. Otherwise we would be at a real risk of the president taking actions that are inconsistent with the American foreign policy objectives.”
Clinton was impeached by the U.S. House after lying about an affair he had with a White House intern. Clinton was acquitted by the U.S. Senate.
Inglis, who served six terms in Congress before losing in the 2010 Republican primary after making comments that humans have contributed to climate change, has been a moderate voice in S.C. conservative politics. In 2009 he proposed legislation to implement a carbon tax to help combat the effects of climate change. He now runs republicEn, an organization that calls for free market solutions to combat climate change.
The S.C. Republican Party said Inglis is no longer in touch with South Carolina voters.
“That’s why he no longer represents them in Congress,” SCGOP Executive Director Hope Walker said. “There are many in Congress who investigated the criminal acts committed by President Clinton and who see this current impeachment inquiry for what it is — a partisan witch hunt.”
Inglis reiterated what Trump is alleged to have done is worse that what Clinton did.
“The Clinton matter in its essence was marital infidelity, very regrettable and very unfortunate, but not at the heart of the functioning of the American government,” Inglis said. “This is at the heart of our government.”
This story was originally published November 22, 2019 at 3:17 PM.
