Delaware’s U.S. senators are voicing support for the House’s impeachment inquiry.
Sens. Chris Coons and Tom Carper say they back the inquiry. It was launched after a whistleblower complaint raised concerns President Donald Trump pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate a political rival - former Vice President Joe Biden - while withholding military aid to that country.
Two friends of Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani who helped oust the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine were arrested late Wednesday on charges of campaign finance violations. Giuliani was in Ukraine seeking dirt on Biden.
Carper blasts the letter the White House recently sent to the House declaring it would not cooperate with its investigation.
“It’s important for them to be able to do their job," he said. "The administration needs to be forthcoming in providing information and not stonewalling, not saying ‘No, you’re not going to get that information.’ But they need to provide the information.”
Coons said recently released text messages between State Department officials appear to show that a phone call or visit with Trump or the release of military funding might be conditioned on Ukraine taking steps politically beneficial to the president’s reelection campaign.
Coons won’t say how he would vote if the House sends articles of impeachment to the Senate for a trial. He also questions Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s intention to carry out a fair process if that happens.
“The truly shocking way in which he refused to give a hearing and a vote to President Obama’s last nominee to the Supreme Court for nine months, Judge Merrick Garland of the D.C. Circuit, suggests to me that Leader McConnell is not above playing partisan politics,” he said.
Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester announced her support for opening an impeachment inquiry against Trump in July.
It’s not clear whether either senator would vote to impeach if the House sends articles of impeachment to the Senate for a trial. Biden has called for Trump to be impeached.
