[W]ASHINGTON — Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., voted with the majority of House Democrats Wednesday to kill a measure to impeach President Donald Trump.
Though Welch is “quite sympathetic” to the arguments in the impeachment resolution, he said he voted against it because he believes the best way to hold Trump accountable is to allow an investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller to play out.
The resolution, offered by Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, failed overwhelmingly, with a bipartisan majority of 364 members voting in favor of tabling the resolution. The 58 members who supported it were all Democrats. Four Democrats voted “present.”
Welch said he agrees with arguments Green put forward in his resolution.
“He focused on the racial divisiveness of the Trump presidency, and he’s right,” Welch said. “The president has been gratuitously divisive.”
However, Welch said, it is important to allow the probe led by Mueller to proceed. The special counsel is looking into the Trump campaign’s connections with Russia.
“If we’re going to hold the president accountable, I believe our best approach is to support the Mueller investigation,” Welch said.
He argued that the special counsel’s team has more tools to investigate the president, and Mueller is respected across the aisle.
While Mueller has recently been under fire from Trump and some others in the Republican Party, Welch said he believes Mueller retains widespread credibility.
The investigation adheres to strict legal standards, in contrast to the impeachment process, Welch said.
“Impeachment is fundamentally a political process, it’s not a legal standard,” he said.
