LOCAL

New Mexico Democrats support impeaching President Donald Trump as inquiry moves forward

Adrian Hedden
Carlsbad Current-Argus

New Mexico’s Congressional delegation expressed support of the impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump Thursday, after an investigation by the House Intelligence Committee concluded and the inquiry went before the House Judiciary Committee, where lawmakers will draft articles of impeachment to be voted on by the full House.

A trial would then be held by the U.S. Senate, should impeachment pass the House.

On Thursday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi called on the House to move forward in drafting the articles impeachment.

Support local journalism.Subscribe to the Carlsbad Current-Argus.

Efforts to impeach Trump centered around allegations that Trump withheld military aid from Ukraine in exchange for that country’s help in investigating Trump’s likely opponent in the 2020 election — Former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

The allegations were in response to two phone calls in April and July where Trump allegedly demanded Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky investigate the Bidens in order to receive military aid from the U.S.

Trump’s supporters and members of the Republican party attacked the inquiry as a partisan attempt to discredit the 2016 election, and an attempt to sway public opinion ahead of 2020.

'DO IT NOW':Trump tells Democrats to impeach him 'fast' so there can be a 'fair trial'

Rep. Deb Haaland

U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM) said she supported the impeachment after the investigation concluded, accusing Trump of abusing his presidential power for personal political gain.

Deb Haaland

“No president should be able to abuse the power of the presidency for personal gain,” Haaland said.

“However, as we’ve moved through the impeachment inquiry, the facts are indisputable and have proven over and over that President Trump betrayed his oath of office by putting our national security at risk with a bribe for his personal and political gain. Not only that, he corrupted and abused the office of the President.”

She said she would vote for impeachment if it came before a full House vote.

“This is a fight for our democracy, and President Trump puts our democracy at risk,” Haaland said.

“I will proudly cast my vote to live up to our responsibility to ensure that no one, not even the president, is above the law.”

Rep. Ben Lujan

Ben Ray Lujan

Following the conclusion of the investigation, U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), assistant House speaker, said it was clear the President abused his power.

“The United States Congress has a responsibility to uphold our Constitution and protect this country from irrevocable harm. The American people have heard from firsthand witnesses of President Trump’s corruption and seen his abuses of power laid bare,” Lujan said.

“It is now an uncontested fact: The President put his political interests ahead of the interests of our nation. Inaction in the face of this lawlessness would be a dereliction of our oath of office, which is why the President’s behavior mandates that the House moves forward with articles of impeachment.”

Rep. Xochitl Torres Small

U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, who said she supported the initial investigation, declined to comment further on Thursday as the inquiry concluded.

Xochitl Torres Small

“The Congresswoman will not be providing a comment at this time,” said Torres Small's spokesperson Paloma Perez.

Upon voting to support the impeachment investigation itself, Torres Small said her vote was to defend the U.S. Constitution, which was essential to addressing other issues such as infrastructure, drug prices and border security.

“I remain focused every day on tackling those challenges with bipartisan solutions,” she said. “To do that work, I must also constantly act to support and defend the Constitution. Today’s vote does just that by laying out a transparent, bipartisan process focused on finding the facts and determining the truth.”

Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce

US Rep. Steve Pearce speaks to employees and politicians Monday at the reopening of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

Chairman of the New Mexico Republican Party and former-representative Steve Pearce called Pelosi's actions in moving forward with impeachment “a disgrace.”

He said Pelosi and supporters of impeachment ignored due process in moving forward and denied allegations that the president extorted aid from Ukraine or abused his power by soliciting foreign interference in the elections.

“This House investigation into the President has been like a dog chasing its tail. The Democrats have embarrassed our nation and have demonstrated egregious behavior, based on conjecture and hearsay," Pearce said. 

READ:House GOP report on impeachment inquiry defends Trump's Ukraine dealings

"There’s been no concrete evidence presented, no abuse of power proven and no due process in this entire travesty of a investigation."

He demanded that Congress instead focus on legislative issues such as a trade agreement proposed by Trump known as the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA), and job creation.

"While the House Democrats wasted months with this impeachment sham, they could have been working to make USMCA happen and tackled issues that matter to New Mexico and our great country," Pearce said. 

"New Mexico’s Congressional delegation has failed our constituents in this way. The House investigation proved nothing and went nowhere."

Sen. Tom Udall

But U.S. Sen. Tom Udall said the investigation produced ample evidence that the President abused his power

Sen. Tom Udall

Udall said that if articles of impeachment made it to the Senate, he would review them closely and address all arguments from both sides. 

"If and when articles of impeachment are officially sent to the Senate, I will carefully review them and any additional arguments or evidence from both sides and hope my colleagues do the same," Udall said.

"The powers of impeachment are somber — but fundamental to upholding our Constitution and the oath of office, and we must treat this process with the seriousness it deserves.” 

READ:'If what we're talking about is not impeachable, then nothing is': Takeaways from impeachment hearing

Udall challenged Trump as not having presented any evidence to contradict the findings of the investigation, but instead ignoring Congressional subpoenas and refusing to testify before the House.

"Instead of responding with evidence to explain his actions, the president has directed senior officials to ignore lawful subpoenas for documents and refuse to testify," Udall said. "This kind of unprecedented conduct cannot stand."

His Senate colleague Sen. Martin Heinrich said that the President should be held accountable.

“Congress has a solemn constitutional duty to defend our democratic republic, and this is exactly what the House is doing. No one is above the law - not even the president. The public deserves to see President Trump held accountable for his actions," Heinrich said in a statement.

Trump responds

Trump also challenged the inquiry as lacking evidence, accusing them of baseless attacks and claiming impeachment would be used in the future to overturn elections.

“The Do Nothing, Radical Left Democrats have just announced that they are going to seek to Impeach me over NOTHING. They already gave up on the ridiculous Mueller “stuff,” so now they hang their hats on two totally appropriate (perfect) phone calls with the Ukrainian President....” Trump tweeted on Thursday.

“....This will mean that the beyond important and seldom used act of Impeachment will be used routinely to attack future Presidents. That is not what our Founders had in mind. The good thing is that the Republicans have NEVER been more united. We will win!”

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.