Arizona state lawmakers sitting on the House Judiciary Committee followed the trend in recently casting votes along party lines on the issue of the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
Following an eight-hour hearing before the committee that included testimony from four constitutional scholars, Republican Reps. Andy Biggs of Gilbert and Debbie Lesko of Peoria both insisted what the president is accused of doing did not rise to the level of an impeachable offense while Democrat Rep. Greg Stanton of Phoenix argued about the importance of the Constitution being adhered to.
Republicans also condemned the process, with Biggs at one point chastising one witness with “You’re supposed to be talking about what the law is, but you came in with a preconceived notion and bias,” according to Cronkite News.
Lesko later told Cronkite News she doesn’t believe the hearings changed any minds, while Stanton argued the question of the day remains is whether “we are a nation of laws and not men.”
When all was said and done, the Democrat-controlled House ultimately moved to make Trump just the third president to ever be impeached, officially filing articles on the grounds of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The debate and proceedings stem from concerns raised by a whistleblower who reported that Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Trump asked Zelensky to “do us a favor” and investigate the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, were a violation of the violation of his oath of office and of the Constitution.
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