Dear Florida Voters from this Concerned Citizen and Reporter Without Borders

Thank you for contacting me regarding the impeachment inquiry of President Trump. I value your comments as they help me better understand what issues are most important to you.

As you may know, Article II, Section IV of the United States Constitution provides Congress the power to impeach the President: “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” To impeach the President, the House would have to pass a resolution outlining the alleged crimes and then the Senate would hold a trial to determine whether or not the President would be removed from office.

On March 22, 2019, Special Counsel Mueller completed his nearly 2-year investigation and submitted the report to Attorney General Barr. I immediately called for the Department of Justice to make the report available to Congress and the American people for their own review. The report was released publicly and can be found here. Several resolutions were introduced in the House that would impeach President Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors. However, I have not seen evidence of actual crimes outlined in these resolutions based on the findings of Special Counsel Mueller. These resolutions have been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

Rather than move forward in the aftermath of the Mueller Report and get to work on behalf of the American people, House Democrats expanded investigations into new areas in the hopes of finding a reason to impeach President Trump. On September 24, 2019, Speaker Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry of President Trump based on reports from an intelligence community whistleblower regarding a phone call between President Trump and President Zelensky of Ukraine. I am disappointed that Speaker Pelosi made this decision unilaterally, without a vote by the House, and did so without having seen the report or the memorandum outlining the phone call even though the Administration had announced they would make the memorandum public. Speaker Pelosi’s decision to move forward does not align with modern practice, which is that impeachment begins after the full House has voted to approve a resolution calling for a committee investigation. For a party that spends so much time talking about the ways in which they believe President Trump violates rules and precedents, they certainly don’t care to follow them in their political impeachment investigation against him.

The Trump Administration released the memorandum outlining the phone call on September 25 and it can be found here. I do not see an explicit “quid pro quo” which is what the reports ahead of the release said happened. Based on the document released by the Administration and the whistleblower report, I do not support the impeachment of President Trump.

I am disappointed that the House of Representatives is devoting so much time to impeachment. Congress plays an important role as a check on every administration, but we can’t lose sight of the important issues that you and others in the district sent me to Washington to advance. Instead of working on legislation to fix our crumbling infrastructure, improve and personalize our health care system, care for our veterans, further strengthen our economy, or complete the appropriations process on time, we find ourselves constantly discussing the President and his Administration. I will support every effort to return to working on critical issues to improve the lives of those in Florida’s 15th District and all Americans.

Again, thank you for contacting my office, and please continue to keep me informed on the issues which are important to you. For more information on my service in Congress, please visit the 15th District’s website, spano.house.gov, or  follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram for more up-to-date information.