DAVE ROSS

Washington Rep. Jayapal: Trump’s Ukraine phone call ‘absolutely an impeachable offense’

Sep 26, 2019, 4:16 PM

Pramila Jayapal, call to remove Trump...

Congressmember Pramila Jayapal. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Washington State Rep. Pramila Jayapal would vote to impeach President Trump, she told Dave Ross on Seattle’s Morning News.

“He is calling a foreign country leader, and asking that leader to dig up and manufacture information on a political opponent that will help him in his 2020 election,” Rep. Jayapal said. “That is absolutely outrageous.”

The Congresswoman, an outspoken House Democrat, did not mince words.

Washington politicians react to recent call for impeachment

“It is absolutely an impeachable offense,” Jayapal said. “This is the president of the United States approaching a grave new level of lawlessness.”

Jayapal said President Donald Trump instructed his officials to withhold $400 million in aid from Ukraine just days before the call, aid that Congress had already approved.

But, whether or not Trump intended to use that money as leverage during his conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is ultimately beside the point.

“There doesn’t have to be a quid pro quo to have a crime. He doesn’t have to say, ‘if you do this, I will give you this,'” Jayapal said. “The crime was committed when the president asked a foreign government to give information that interferes in our election. Period.”

The Congresswoman said she thinks any further investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden’s interactions with Ukraine would be a distraction.

President Trump’s request for the Ukrainian government to investigate Biden was, she said, a request for manufactured information.

How Washington representatives voted on Trump impeachment

“All of Biden’s actions were already investigated,” Jayapal said. “So essentially [Trump] is saying, please try to find something on Joe Biden, and give it to us.”

“We don’t like the answer you gave last time, please make something up that I like better?” Dave asked.

“Exactly,” Jayapal said.

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Washington Rep. Jayapal: Trump’s Ukraine phone call ‘absolutely an impeachable offense’