Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler addresses a crowd at her in-person town hall, in January, 2017.
U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler has come out against the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, calling the Democrat-led push a “farce” and claiming it violated due process and “fairness to all sides.”
Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, published a statement regarding the impeachment proceedings Oct. 31 in which she decried the process as going against precedent. Although she stated she would support “a full and fair investigation,” she took issue with how Democrats were conducting the process, specifically in regard to what she called a lack of transparency.
Herrera Beutler called the current proceedings “enormously different” from previous ones, claiming there was a lack of full access to information. She took issue with how the investigation was undertaken — in the House Intelligence Committee conducted in a “top secret facility” as opposed to open hearings in the House Judiciary Committee — as well as the ability of chairs of relevant committees to “unilaterally” subpoena witnesses while Republicans had to rely on the permission of said chairs.
“For these reasons I did not support this House resolution and I urge the House to amend what was passed today to create a fair, full and open process where Americans of all political beliefs can have confidence that justice was served,” Herrera Beutler wrote.
The vote on rules for impeachment generally fell along party lines at 232 to 196. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee came out with its own statement against Herrera Beutler’s lack of support for the inquiry.
“Either she can stand with the majority of the American people who support bringing the truth to light about President Trump’s behavior through a transparent, open process, or cave to the pressure of their party’s leaders and President Trump,” the statement reads.
Herrera Beutler’s opponent in the 2020 election, Democrat Carolyn Long, had her own statement regarding the congresswoman’s vote.
“After weeks of dodging questions, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler showed that she is just another DC politician leaving the American people behind,” Long stated.
“If I were in Congress today I would have voted yes,” Long said. “The American people deserve the truth.”
