House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announces impeachment proceedings.
Dec. 5, 2019 by David Silverberg
The US House of Representatives will move forward with impeachment proceedings, House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-12-Calif.) announced today.
“Sadly, but with confidence and humility, with allegiance to our Founders and our hearts full of love for America, today, I am asking our chairmen to proceed with articles of impeachment,” she said in a formal statement. (Also available on video, here.)
Two candidates for the 19th Congressional District seat being vacated by Rep. Francis Rooney (R-19-Fla.) were vocal in their reactions to the announcement. All sitting members of Congress from Southwest Florida were silent.
“After careful review of the report release yesterday by the U.S. House of Representative Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I fully support the Speaker of the House directing that articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump proceed,” stated Democratic candidate Cindy Banyai on her website. “It simply cannot be tolerated that funds legally allocated by Congress be manipulated for domestic political and personal purposes of the president. Such actions are not only improper, but put US national security at risk, which is unacceptable.”
As of this writing, Democratic candidate David Holden had not issued a statement.
State Rep. Dane Eagle (R-77-Cape Coral) initially tweeted a denunciation of Pelosi and the impeachment proceedings immediately after Pelosi’s statement but subsequently deleted it.
Republican candidate Daniel Severson issued a tweet yesterday, Dec. 4, denouncing law professor Pamela Karlan, who testified before the House Judiciary Committee, stating: “This is your unbiased witness on impeachment today. These #ImpeachmentHearings are nothing more than a partisan exercise to undo an American election. @TheDemocrats know they cannot win at the ballot box against @realDonaldTrump so they are abusing their power to remove him.”
As of this writing, Republican candidates State Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen (R-78-Fort Myers), Fort Myers Mayor Randy Henderson, Antonio Dumornay and William Figlesthaler had not issued statements.