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Panetta votes ‘yes’ on impeachment

December 20, 2019

Democratic Congressman Jimmy Panetta Wednesday voted with nearly all of the members of his party in the House of Representatives to impeach President Donald Trump.

Panetta, who like many of his colleagues called the vote to impeach "solemn and somber," said he used many of the same skills when he was prosecutor in Monterey County to arrive to the conclusion that Trump should be impeached.

"By putting politics and emotions aside to focus on the underlying evidence and applying those facts to the articles of impeachment, I found it clear that the president subverted our national interest for his own personal and political interest," Panetta said in a press release.

The Democratic-led House voted to impeach Trump for abuse of power and obstructing Congress — charges they said stemmed from a phone call Trump had with the president of the Ukraine in July, but Republicans say are just the fulfillment of the Democrat's ardent and longstanding wish to impeach the president — which some prominent leaders of their party have been promising to do for years.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to forward articles of impeachment to the GOP-controlled Senate, where Trump will most certainly be acquitted.

Panetta said that the trial notwithstanding, he would not let the impeachment process stop him and other lawmakers from getting things done, including passing legislation that benefits immigrants, improves the healthcare system and lowers prescription drug prices.

"I do not take pride in impeaching a sitting president of the United States," Panetta said. "But as the U.S. representative for the Central Coast of California, I am upholding my obligation under the United States Constitution to protect the future of our democracy."