Rep. Tom O'Halleran, a moderate Arizona Democrat, says he will vote to impeach Trump

Ronald J. Hansen | The Republic | azcentral.com

Rep. Tom O’Halleran said Friday he will vote to impeach President Donald Trump next week, keeping intact support from all five of Arizona’s Democratic House members.

O’Halleran, a political moderate whose competitive district voted for Trump by 1 percentage point in 2016, said: "Trump abused the power of the presidency and broke his oath of office when he bribed the nation of Ukraine by withholding military aid they had already been promised in exchange for help investigating a political opponent.

"I will vote to impeach the President because this bribery and abuse of power violated the constitution and put our national security and our international relationships at risk," he said in a statement.

"Our democracy is the greatest in the world, and a model for many other nations. In our democracy, we must hold elected officials accountable when they break the public trust and put their own interests before the good of our nation," he continued.

While he has taken heat for past occasions when he has voted with Trump’s agenda, O’Halleran is again siding with Democratic leadership on what will be the biggest vote of his second term.

O’Halleran also stuck with his party to oppose Republican efforts to overturn the Affordable Care Act and the GOP’s corporate tax cut legislation in the first two years of Trump’s presidency.

His district, which spans northeastern Arizona, is one of 31 in the House that Trump carried in 2016 and are currently held by Democrats. That is a group being targeted by Trump's campaign team and pro-Trump political-action committees, USA TODAY reported Thursday.

So far, at least seven of those members have made clear how they intend to vote on impeachment, with six of them saying they would support it.

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The National Republican Congressional Committee, the arm of the GOP dedicated to electing Republicans to the House, recently has targeted O'Halleran with digital ads denouncing what it calls "this impeachment sham."

"Tom O’Halleran’s obsession with impeaching President Trump will cost him his seat," NRCC spokeswoman Torunn Sinclair said Friday.

O'Halleran's support is expected to help ensure Democrats pass two articles of impeachment, which would force a trial in the Senate next month.

While O’Halleran has maintained that political considerations would not guide his decision, his decision still placed him squarely in the middle of an issue that has left the public in a familiar partisan stalemate.

It also comes as he is facing political challengers from Democrats and Republicans alike.

O’Halleran faces two Democratic primary challengers and four Republicans trying to unseat him after two terms.

Eva Putzova, a former Flagstaff city council member running against him in the Democratic 1st Congressional District primary, said his position was long overdue.

"I'm just wondering where Tom O'Halleran has been. He's been kind of late to the party," Putzova said, noting that Trump should have faced impeachment for other transgressions, such as accepting business gifts from foreign nations and his role in the Russians' interference in the 2016 election.

"All along, Tom O'Halleran has been quiet. Ukraine is not the only reason we should be impeaching the sitting president," Putzova said.

Tiffany Shedd, one of his Republican challengers, tied O'Halleran to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

"Tom O’Halleran has followed Nancy Pelosi’s instructions and is trying to invalidate the 2016 election through impeachment, ignoring his constituents' votes," Shedd said in a statement. "O’Halleran has repeatedly proved that when it counts he’ll always stand with Nancy Pelosi and Democrats in Washington."

None of O'Halleran's rivals could match the $574,000 campaign war chest he had entering October, but he has been attacked on the left as too conservative and on the right as thwarting Trump’s agenda.

O’Halleran voted with Trump’s preferred positions 54 percent of the time in his first two years in office, but only 4 percent since January, when Democrats took control of the House, according to figures tracked by the website FiveThirtyEight.

Since the Ukrainian matter first became known, O’Halleran has tried to finesse an issue that was immediately seen as pointing to impeachment.

In September, O’Halleran joined Arizona’s other four House Democrats to say he supported an impeachment inquiry, though he initially avoided using the word impeachment.

"The serious allegation that the administration withheld foreign aid from Ukraine in order to pressure their government into digging up dirt on a political opponent requires a prompt and thorough investigation," O'Halleran, a former Chicago police detective, said in a statement. “We must act now to get the facts.”

That measured support drew an immediate rebuke from Putzova.

“Rep. Tom O’Halleran’s hesitancy to initiate impeachment proceedings, even after learning about President Trump’s inappropriate conversation with the Ukrainian president, is a total failure of his leadership — and not only toward his constituents. It is also a betrayal of democracy and his responsibility to be a check on executive power,” she said in a statement at the time.

The next day, O’Halleran noted his “support for the ongoing impeachment inquiry.”

Republicans pounced on his tonal shift.

“Congrats to Eva Putzova for unmasking Tom O’Halleran’s pro-impeachment agenda,” Sinclair said at the time.

Here is O'Halleran's complete statement:

"Today is a somber day in America’s history. When I was elected to represent Arizona’s First Congressional District in the House of Representatives, I never expected that we would vote on impeaching a sitting president.

"As a former law enforcement officer and criminal investigator, I spent my career gathering evidence and pursuing truth and justice. Throughout this impeachment inquiry process, I have remained committed to reviewing all of the facts before coming to a final decision on the matter. That is why I have reached my decision today, following the finalization of the official articles of impeachment.

"The constitution is a document we have lived by as a nation for over two hundred years. It is the shortest written constitution of any major government in the world, but it outlines clear grounds on which the impeachment of a sitting president is the correct course of action. Article II, Section 4 reads, 'The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.'

"President Trump abused the power of the presidency and broke his oath of office when he bribed the nation of Ukraine by withholding military aid they had already been promised in exchange for help investigating a political opponent. The President’s own political appointees and phone call transcript confirmed these facts.

"I will vote to impeach the President because this bribery and abuse of power violated the constitution and put our national security and our international relationships at risk.

"Our democracy is the greatest in the world, and a model for many other nations. In our democracy, we must hold elected officials accountable when they break the public trust and put their own interests before the good of our nation.

"As we look forward to the second half of the 116th Congress, I remain committed to getting things done for Arizona families. We must work across the aisle to create good-paying jobs that grow our rural communities, lower health care costs for seniors and working families, and keep our promises to Arizona’s veterans.”

Reach the reporter Ronald J. Hansen at ronald.hansen@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4493. Follow him on Twitter @ronaldjhansen.

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