U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner co-sponsored a resolution Friday that accuses House Democrats of denying President Donald Trump “basic fairness and due process” in their impeachment inquiry.
“I had hoped Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi would turn away from the sharp partisanship that has driven the House process but she has not. I hope people will read the resolution and that everyone supports a fair and transparent process,” Gardner said in a statement, calling the impeachment inquiry “a political circus.”
Gardner, a Yuma Republican who faces a tough re-election fight in 2020, is one of 50 Senate Republicans to co-sponsor the measure crafted by Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. It was Graham who announced Gardner had signed on Friday afternoon.
The resolution, which is largely symbolic, slams the impeachment inquiry as undemocratic and unfair to Trump. It urges House leaders to grant Republicans in Congress, Trump and the president’s lawyers more access to impeachment hearings.
“The main allegations against President Trump are based on assertions and testimony from witnesses whom he is unable to confront, as part of a process in which he is not able to offer witnesses in his defense or have a basic understanding of the allegations lodged against him,” the resolution says.
That echoes many of the criticisms Gardner has made against Pelosi and the impeachment inquiry. During a meeting with reporters in Denver on Oct. 10, Gardner said Presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton had been afforded due process rights denied to Trump.
“They’re refusing to comply with those very same rules of transparency and fairness,” Gardner said of House Democrats then, declining to comment on impeachment before the inquiry was complete and refusing to say whether it’s wrong for a president to solicit foreign help in investigating his political opponents.
A poll conducted in mid-October found that a majority of Coloradans who are likely to vote in Gardner’s election next year support the impeachment inquiry and nearly half support removing the president from office. Forty-three percent of the 500 people polled disapprove of the impeachment inquiry. The poll from Democratic-leaning Keating-OnSight-Martin had a 4.4% margin of error.
Alyssa Roberts, a Colorado Democratic Party spokeswoman, said Gardner’s decision to co-sponsor the Graham resolution shows he has placed “blind loyalty” to Trump over the country’s best interests.
“Instead of letting a full investigation play out, he is telling Coloradans that the facts don’t matter and is defending a president who has abused the power of his office in a desperate attempt to save face with the Trump base,” Roberts said.
Gardner’s criticisms underscore the deep partisan divide within Colorado’s congressional delegation on the issue of impeachment. All Democrats in the delegation support the impeachment inquiry, and all Republicans oppose it.
“The Democrats have acted with Soviet-style secrecy because they know that if the facts come out, the American people will realize that this whole process is a sham,” said Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, on Friday. “Speaker Pelosi refuses to have a vote to call for impeachment formally, and thus far, there has been zero due process or transparency.”
Rep. Ed Perlmutter, an Arvada Democrat, said Friday that Republicans “continue to perpetuate false claims and attack the (impeachment inquiry) process, a clear sign they are getting desperate.” Last week, he called on the House to draft and file articles of impeachment against Trump.
“We’re doing this in a very professional way,” said Rep. Jason Crow, D-Aurora, on CNN Wednesday. “And making sure that we’re avoiding the political theater that I think Republicans would really like to have right now. This is about the facts, it’s about getting to the facts, and upholding the rule of law.”
