On Tuesday night, Representative Fred Upton announced his support for the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
Upton is a Republican who represents the Sixth District in southwestern Michigan. He is the latest Republican to announce support for impeachment following last week’s insurrection at the Capitol.
The Congressman issued the following statement:
Today the President characterized his inflammatory rhetoric at last Wednesday’s rally as “totally appropriate,” and he expressed no regrets for last week’s violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. This sends exactly the wrong signal to those of us who support the very core of our democratic principles and took a solemn oath to the Constitution. I would have preferred a bipartisan, formal censure rather than a drawn-out impeachment process. I fear this will now interfere with important legislative business and a new Biden Administration. But it is time to say: Enough is enough.
The Congress must hold President Trump to account and send a clear message that our country cannot and will not tolerate any effort by any President to impede the peaceful transfer of power from one President to the next. Thus, I will vote to impeach.
Upton – who is seen as a moderate Republican – is a veteran lawmaker. First elected to the House in 1986, he won re-election in November 2020 with 56 percent of the vote against Democratic candidate Jon Hoadley. His district includes Niles, St. Joseph, Benton Harbor, Kalamazoo, and Three Rivers. Trump won the district with 51 percent of the vote in November.
Earlier Tuesday, Representative Liz Cheney announced her support for Trump’s impeachment. Cheney, who represents Wyoming, is the third-highest ranking Republican in the House and the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney. Both Upton and Cheney voted against last year’s impeachment effort.
“The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack,” Cheney said. “Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to hold the impeachment vote on Wednesday, January 13. It’s expected that a near-unanimous number of Democrats will support impeachment.
Photo Credit: Michigan National Guard, Flickr
