Ryan Votes Against Impeachment Resolution

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan voted against moving forward on impeachment Wednesday, but said he supports pursuing it through the appropriate channels sooner rather than later. 

Ryan, D-13 Ohio, joined a majority of Democrats voting along with Republicans to set aside the resolution, brought by U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-9 Texas, to impeach President Donald Trump based on his recent statements against four Democratic congresswomen and urged representatives – all of whom are women of color, and three of whom were born in the United States – to “go back” to where they came from. 

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 240 to 187 – largely along party lines – Tuesday to formally condemn Trump’s remarks, which were posted on Twitter. 

“I hope when we get back in September that’s when we start the process,” Ryan said during an interview on MSNBC yesterday. 

Ryan, who said during a CNN town hall meeting in June that he supported initiating impeachment proceedings against Trump, nevertheless voted to set aside Green’s resolution. He argued that the matter needs to go through the committee process rather than being bought directly to the floor. 

“I understand that emotions run high, but the reality of it is if we’re going to do something this big it needs to go through the proper channels and it needs to go through the committee process,” he said. “That’s why I voted to table it.”

In addition, the Mahoning Valley congressman, who also is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, disagreed with basing articles of impeachment on the president’s Twitter comments targeting his four women colleagues. Having twice read the Mueller Report, which investigated Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, Ryan said it identifies six or more counts of obstruction of justice by the president. 

“We should stay focused on that,” he said. 

“We’re all pretty appalled by what the president has done [and] what he continues to do. It’s a black mark on the country, a black mark on the White House, but the impeachment should stay focused on the obstruction of justice and it should go through the proper channels.” 

Also voting against the resolution were U.S. Reps. Bill Johnson, R-6 Ohio, and Mike Kelly, R-16 Pa. 

“The House, including a majority of Democrats, just voted to reject Articles of Impeachment against the President. Another day, another show vote,” Johnson said in a post on Facebook. “Surely Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi will decide to get back to the real work the American people expect Congress to do?”

Kelly “clearly thinks Democrats are wasting time trying to impeach the president rather than focusing on the needs of the American people,” said the congressman’s communications director Andrew Eisenberger said. 

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