Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) announced Tuesday that he will vote in favor of removing President Donald Trump from office when the Senate impeachment trial comes to a close Wednesday afternoon.
“As an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve and as a U.S. Senator, I took an oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution. After solemn consideration of the facts and evidence presented to the Senate, I have concluded that the president violated his oath of office and betrayed the public trust by putting his own personal and political interests before the people of Michigan and our country,” Peters said in his statement.
The freshman senator called the evidence presented by the House impeachment managers “compelling” and said the Democrats’ case “was not effectively refuted by the president’s lawyers.”
“The facts clearly showed the president abused the power of his office by illegally holding up critical military aid to extort Ukraine, a vulnerable ally at war with Russia. The president leveraged the good will of the American people and conditioned release of the aid on Ukraine announcing an investigation that would falsely discredit his political rival,” he continued.
He went on to call the president’s actions an “unbridled effort to benefit his own re-election campaign by using taxpayer money for a corrupt purpose.”
“The president also engaged in an unprecedented cover up of his activities by stonewalling and obstructing congressional oversight, blocking relevant key witnesses and withholding documents necessary for full transparency,” said Peters.
A vote on the president’s acquittal is set for Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) is expected to vote in line with Democrats.
The Michigan Republican Party called Peters a hypocrite for his stance on Trump’s impeachment, noting that he said he was “pleased it’s all over with” after President Bill Clinton was acquitted by the Senate in 1999.
“Hypocrisy runs deep in the Democrat party, and Gary Peters has proven it with his willingness to nullify the votes of millions of Michiganders,” said Republican Party Chairwoman Laura Cox. “Instead of siding with the people of Michigan, the Senator claims to ‘represent,’ he is choosing to put his party before country in carrying this impeachment torch for the caucus. I have no doubt in my mind that this impeachment trial will be the final straw for the people of our state, who will seek a new U.S. Senator this November.”
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of The Minnesota Sun and The Ohio Star. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
