Rep. Peter Welch, Vermont’s lone member of the House of Representatives, will be among those voting to impeach President Donald Trump Wednesday for allegedly abusing the power of the White House to pressure Ukraine into investigating a political rival.
During a telephone town hall with 4,500 Vermonters Monday evening, Welch explained why he will vote in favor of the two articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — when the full House gathers to impeach a U.S. president for the third time in history.
Democrats have charged Trump with coercing Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, and unsubstantiated claims that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election. Testimony suggests that Trump attempted to use nearly $400 million in military aid and a meeting in the White House as leverage to pressure Ukraine.
“I believe the evidence that President Trump did this is incontrovertible,” Welch, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, told Vermonters on Monday.
“I support impeachment,” he added.
Welch has previously said his vote to remove the president from office will be the “most important vote” he has cast during his 12 years in Congress.
Ahead of the historic House vote, a half-dozen protests in support of impeachment were to take place throughout Vermont on Tuesday. One was held in Middlebury beginning at noon while gatherings in Brattleboro, Essex Junction, Montpelier, Rutland and South Burlington were scheduled for the evening.
“Vermonters are passionate about the impeachment of Donald Trump because his pattern of abuse of power and obstruction strikes at the very core of our identity as Americans loyal to our Constitution and the rule of law,” R. Christopher Di Mezzo, spokesperson for the Vermont Democratic Party, said in a statement.
The House vote on impeachment is expected to be a partisan affair with the Democratic majority voting to impeach Trump while Republicans oppose the measure.
The impeachment process will then move to the Republican-controlled Senate for a trial. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-K.Y., has said he and his fellow Republicans intend to work closely with White House lawyers and take the same position as the president, with plans to acquit Trump of any wrongdoing.
“We don’t know what is going to happen,” Welch said. “Mitch McConnell has indicated he wants a quick trial.”
The House member from Vermont had been a holdout in the Democratic Caucus, opposing the idea of beginning impeachment proceedings until he pivoted to support the idea in July of this year. Since then, he has played an integral role, both as a spokesperson and an investigator for House Democrats’ during the inquiry into Trump’s actions.
As a member of the Intelligence Committee, which spearheaded the investigation, Welch scored a breakout moment during the televised proceedings by retorting to a Republican colleague that the president was welcome to publicly testify about his dealings with Ukraine.
On Monday, addressing both concerns from Vermont’s Trump supporters that the impeachment vote would nullify the 2016 election, and anxiety from the president’s critics that the Senate will exonerate him, Welch said the final decision on the fate of the president will be made by the public in 2020.
“There is an election coming up and ultimately it will be the American voters who make the decision about our future,” he said.
This article was updated with photos from Tuesday’s protests at 12:19 p.m. on Dec. 18.
