Maloney Remains Against Trump Impeachment Inquiry
As the number of House Democrats calling for an impeachment proceeding against President Donald Trump continues to grow, local Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney remains against opening an impeachment inquiry into the Republican president.
A spokesman for Maloney confirmed Maloney does not want an impeachment inquiry to start after his Republican opponent running in the 18th district slammed him for expressing a desire to impeach Trump. GOP candidate Chele Farley said Maloney, a Democrat, has once again shown that he is “out of touch with the values and priorities of Hudson Valley residents” by indicating he would green light any impeachment proceedings initiated by the Judiciary Committee against Trump.
“Impeachment is a drastic step that is not supported by the American people,” Farley stated.
But in the WAMC New York interview that Farley referred to, Maloney didn’t say he wanted the House to undergo an impeachment inquiry against Trump because strategically it would be ill advised even though he thought Trump committed impeachable offenses.
“I think the President’s conduct is deserving of impeachment, I don’t recommend that tactically as a course we ought to take to hold him accountable, I think there’s better ways to do that right now,” Maloney said during the interview. “If you’re asking if the guy deserves it, yeah, he deserves it.”
Maloney went on to state, “If you put a red or green button in front of me and say you have to vote yes or no for impeachment, I’m going to vote to impeach the guy.”
More than 100 House Democrats support opening an impeachment inquiry against Trump following the completion of the Mueller Report that outlined while Trump and his campaign did not conspire with the Russian government to win the 2016 election, there were several instances where Trump might’ve committed obstruction of justice during the course of the Russian interference investigation.
But Maloney has held back against supporting an impeachment inquiry. On July 17, Maloney voted against impeachment on the House floor. While he handily won his re-election for a third term in Congress in 2016, Trump received more votes in the 18th district than Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Maloney, who is now in his fourth term, was only a handful of House Democrats to win a race in the same district Trump also won in 2016.
Farley’s campaign stood by its statement criticizing Maloney.
