Jeff Van Drew: Impeachment Violates American Democratic Values

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ) said Sunday that the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry violates America’s democratic values by undermining the upcoming 2020 presidential election.

Van Drew, a frequent critic of the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, told USA Today that the inquiry violates the spirit of American democracy.

Van Drew noted that no president has even been removed from office, adding that to have a “small, elite group” of lawmakers remove Trump right before an election year seems un-American.

“To some folks, that’s reminiscent of what was done to kings and queens many years ago,” he told USA Today. “Everything our country doesn’t stand for.”

Van Drew, along with Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN), served as the two Democrat congressmen to vote against a resolution that would formalize the rules and procedures surrounding the impeachment inquiry against Trump.

The New Jersey Democrat said that the president’s actions regarding Ukraine are “unsavory,” but he has yet to learn of anything that would warrant removing him from office.

Van Drew also complained that the fact that other Democrats had called to impeach Trump before his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky aids the president’s argument that Democrats have rigged the investigation to lead to impeachment.

Van Drew said, “That makes folks understandably feel this guy doesn’t have a shot and there really is something going on and there really is a deep state. I’m not saying there is, but the fix is in.”

Van Drew, a member of both the Blue Dog Democrats and Problem Solvers Caucus, said that he remains as “sincerely bipartisan” as many Democrats, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), become increasingly progressive.

“I am a moderate. I am a capitalist,” the New Jersey Democrat said. “So I’m closer to Nancy (Pelosi) and Trump than AOC or those folks.”