How AR Members of Congress respond to my letters (Updated)

Below is the first message I sent my Representative, French Hill, and Senators, John Boozman and Tom Cotton.

"What's it going to take for you to realize it is finally time to hold the President accountable? His associates are all tied to corruption, many have already been indicted. Many others are or will be under serious investigation. Even if his actions never quite fall under "illegal", surely you must be able to see they are devoid of morals. Your support means nothing to him, and he will abandon you as soon as it suits his purpose. His most recent mistake involving Turkey and Syria is your chance to save face in the GOP. Support the impeachment inquiry now. And when you finally see the evidence of "high crimes and misdemeanors", you must vote to impeach, convict and remove. Let this failed experiment end, learn from it, and let justice return."

I will now post the responses (and will update as they come in).

From AR Representative French Hill:

Thank you for contacting me regarding President Donald Trump. I appreciate hearing from you and having the opportunity to respond.

I appreciate hearing the concerns of Arkansans and Americans throughout the country. I have always advocated for a civil tone and mutual understanding when it comes to our political disagreements, and I will continue to advocate for civil discourse, vigorous debate, the democratic process, and respect for all.

However, impeachment has consumed Congressional Democrats since the president's first day in office. The Mueller report did not deliver the impeachment verdict they were hoping for, so now they are trying again with an anonymous whistleblower complaint based off zero firsthand information.Speaker Pelosi's decision to move forward with an impeachment inquiry before all of the facts surfaced proves once again that Congressional Democrats care more about undermining the president than finding the truth. Speaker Pelosi caved to the radical wing of her party for what is essentially a partisan political process that goes against both precedent and protocol. The full House voted on articles of impeachment three times since President Trump took office, and each vote has failed by a bipartisan margin with dozens of Democrats voting against impeachment. If this inquiry was more than a political game, then Speaker Pelosi would have brought new articles of impeachment to the floor for a vote already.

Rather than caving to the radical elements in her ranks, Speaker Pelosi should focus on issues important to the American people like securing our southwest border and passing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). I remain committed and focused on my work to address the important issues facing the people living in the second congressional district of Arkansas and the rest of our country.

My response to Mr. Hill's response:

I'm sorry, but this is a bogus and partisan response. Donald Trump has given the American people enough evidence in plain sight to begin an impeachment inquiry. And an inquiry is exactly that; an inquiry to gather facts. To suggest that Pelosi should have all the facts prior to an investigation is ridiculous. Furthermore, Mueller stated unequivocally that he would indict Trump over obstruction were he not a sitting President, so I'd hardly say that endeavor was useless. A Federal judge has already opened the door to end that idea, which to date has only been enacted due to DOJ memos; it is not law, and no individual is above the law. As for what Congress "should" be doing, you can direct that question to your cohorts in the Senate, led by Mitch McConnell. There are currently almost 300 bills waiting on them. You know exactly how many bills have been passed in the House that the Senate has refused to take up. You are being disingenuous, and your support of Trump (party over country) is noted.

From AR Senator John Boozman:

Thank you for contacting me to express your thoughts on the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. It is good to hear from you.

On September 24, 2019, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the U.S. House of Representatives would begin a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. The Speaker's announcement followed publicly released transcripts of President Trump's conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his comments regarding former Vice President Joe Biden and his so, Hunter Biden, regarding the Ukrainian natural gas company, Burisma Holdings. Speaker Pelosi has directed six House Committees to continue investigations into the Trump Administration and report their findings to the House Judiciary Committee.

As you may know, the process of impeachment must begin with the U.S. House of Representatives passing, by a simple majority, articles of impeachment, which constitute the formal allegation or allegations. Upon passage, the defendant has been "impeached" and next, the U.S. Senate tries the accused. I appreciate you reaching out to share your thoughts with me on Speaker Pelosi's decision to begin a formal impeachment inquiry.  Please be assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind should articles of impeachment proceed to the U.S. Senate for consideration.

Again, thank you for contacting me to share your views. If you would like to reply to this email, please click here .

At this time, I have no response to Mr. Boozman; his response was carefully worded, and while he may or may not support the President, he is at least attempting to remain impartial and reasonable.

UPDATE as of 11/4/19. Still no response from Tom Cotton's office (though I can imagine what it would be), and no further response from French Hill's office, though they did send out a newsletter that basically parroted the GOP RWNJ "defense" of attacking the process. This was, ironically, the day before Pelosi announced the vote on impeachment inquiry, which has now happened. Furthermore, today, they began releasing the transcripts of the testimonies, which will be my next blog post.

LOL, as the GOP talking points continue to get destroyed. Really, the only option they have now (other than dropping Trump like a hot turd), is to claim that, yes, he did all those things, but there's nothing wrong with that (some are already trying this defense out). It seems pretty clear to me that there is something wrong with his behavior, but we'll see what the rest of the American people have to say.

At this point, it may still be likely that he can get re-elected, but that the Republicans may also lose their majority in Senate as well. If that happens, an interesting question is, "Is there a constitutional equivalent to double jeopardy, or would a newly elected House and Senate be able to do another vote on impeachment, conviction and removal?" If this Senate votes against conviction and removal, and Trump gets re-elected, even with a Democratic-led House and Senate, it seems almost a given that the Trump admin would by then have perpetrated yet another issue over which there could be articles of impeachment.

UPDATE: Finally got a response from Tom Cotton's office, though from a different email. Here it is (and then my response back):

Thank you for contacting me about the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry against President Trump.

On July 25, 2019, President Trump held a phone conversation with Ukraine’s newly-elected President Volodymyr Zelensky. After the call, someone within the intelligence community filed a whistleblower complaint against the president. According to news reports, the whistleblower coordinated with House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff’s staff before filing the complaint. After the whistleblower complaint came to light, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats raced to open a “formal” impeachment inquiry against the president.

Despite an unprecedented act of transparency by President Trump in releasing the transcript of his call with the Ukrainian leader, the Democratic Party has nevertheless plunged headlong into a partisan impeachment process, the conclusion of which seems highly predetermined. They could consider dedicating a fraction of this legislative energy to improving the lives of hardworking Americans. Meanwhile the Democrats continue to ignore the Biden family’s questionable (at best) international business dealings. I believe the American people deserve to know the details of this issue as well.

I’m honored to serve as your senator. You, your family, and our state will remain on my mind and close to my heart in my work. Always feel free to call my office at (202) 224-2353 or visit www.cotton.senate.gov. Be sure to drop by my office and say hello if you ever visit our nation’s capital.

Sincerely,

Tom Cotton
United States Senator

Mr. Cotton,

I know you probably won't read this. Maybe a staffer will, or maybe it'll just generate an auto-response; I don't know. Your response is what is partisan, not what the Democrats are doing. Your response is full of weak defenses, based on things that simply aren't true. The whistleblower went through all the proper channels, was deemed by the IG that is represented a credible issue, and it is LAW that a report of this nature be turned over to Congress within 7 days. You decry Pelosi as "rushing", but she, and most centrist Democrats were reluctant to proceed with an impeachment inquiry until they had enough evidence. And there is no need to put the word "formal" in quotes. The House has sole power to begin impeachment proceedings as they see fit, and let me remind you that it was Republicans that changed the rules about the minority party's ability to call witnesses during the Benghazi investigations.

The so called "transcript" of the call with the Ukrainian president is not a transcript. It says so on the document. It is a memo, recorded from memory after the fact, not in real time, and an incomplete memo at that. The call is listed as lasting 30 minutes, and the content released accounts for maybe five minutes worth. However, what is in that memo is enough evidence to proceed with an impeachment inquiry. Nevermind what has come out of the President's mouth on national TV and his Twitter account. He is doing this to himself, as are those that support and help cover up his actions.

You try to make it seem as if the House isn't doing anything else, but the impeachment inquiry is only six committees of the House. Last I saw, they had passed over 300 bills that your buddy, Mitch McConnell refuses to even consider. So go talk to your GOP cohorts in the Senate about a "do-nothing" Congress.

As for Biden. Go ahead and investigate. You've already had almost three years to do so, when you controlled the WH and both chambers of Congress, but somehow this has only come up once it became apparent that Biden was a threat. If there's corruption there, then I'm sure there's evidence and not just a song and dance. And while you're at it, I hope you are looking as closely at the Trump family's personal business entanglements since you seem to be so concerned about the abuse of power. But you won't, because you actually don't care about that at all.

And since we're talking about transparency, how many of your constituents know how much the Koch brothers gave your campaign in 2014 (8.1 million)? How much dark money (and from whom) is going to your current campaign? You may be relatively unchallenged here in Arkansas, but you'd better be careful to which horse you attach your cart. Because it's fairly likely that many of them won't be around after 2020. Perhaps you should consider how many indictments have already come from these "sham" investigations, how many sentences are or will be carried out, and how many more are coming.

UPDATE: Response from US Rep. French Hill:

Thank you for contacting me regarding President Donald Trump. I appreciate hearing from you and having the opportunity to respond. For more than six weeks, Democrat leaders ran a secretive, partisan impeachment inquiry, hidden away from the majority of members of Congress, that is unprecedented and unfair to central Arkansans. Despite claiming that no House vote is needed, recently Speaker Pelosi attempted to save face by passing a resolution that formalizes her ongoing, one-sided impeachment process that lacks any semblance of due process. Democrat leadership blatantly deviated from historical precedent by altering the language used to establish impeachment proceedings under both President Nixon in 1974 and President Clinton in 1998. During those impeachment proceedings, the process was collaborative, and the minority had equal participation. Not surprisingly, every single Republican and two Democrats voted against Speaker Pelosi's partisan impeachment resolution. Last week, House Democrats began the public impeachment inquiry hearings. Just because these are public, does not mean they are fair. Chairman Schiff has turned the Intelligence Committee into the Impeachment Committee where he has total control. Democrats have continued to deny key witnesses from testifying nor released transcripts from the most recent secret depositions. The White House's counsel is also not allowed to participate. The president has significant authority to conduct foreign policy, and from what the witnesses have testified the last two weeks, I believe these hearings belong in the House Foreign Affairs Committee's oversight function. While Democrat leaders have obsessed over undoing the results of the 2016 election, they have completely lost sight of their responsibility to address important issues facing the American people. Instead of doubling-down on a partisan impeachment inquiry, they should work with Republicans to pass on-time government funding, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) on trade. I remain committed and focused on my work to address the important issues facing the people living in central Arkansas and the rest of our country.

Sincerely, French Hill Member of Congress And my response back: Dear Mr. Hill, I don't know if you or one of your staffers (or no one) will read this, but I'm going to respond anyway. I'll take it point by point. You say Democrats ran a secret and partisan impeachment inquiry. While the initial testimonies were closed-door, it is not common practice that the entire House be present. Six committees were, which included around 48 of your Republicans colleagues. They were granted equal time for questioning. It is only perceived as partisan because the Republicans are circling the wagons instead of trying to think about what's best for the country. The Founders knew impeachment was always going to become political. The Constitution requires no vote for the House to conduct impeachment proceedings, and the only reason Pelosi eventually took one was to take away one of your asinine talking points. There is no due process, as an impeachment inquiry is not a criminal proceeding. I'd hardly call what happened with Nixon and Clinton "collaborative processes". The only real difference is that the House had to do the inquiry instead of an independent counsel due to Barr's obstruction. What you are railing against was simply the discovery process; we haven't even gotten to the articles of impeachment or the Senate trial yet. There was plenty from those two historical examples that happened behind closed doors. Now, on to the public hearings. Majority Party controls the process, yes. Elections have consequences. Republicans have only been denied witnesses that are irrelevant to the inquiry into the President. And you can thank your own party for limiting the control the Minority has, when that change was made during the Benghazi hearings. Meanwhile, the WH and State Dept have refused to comply with subpoenas for Mulvaney and Bolton. Testimony has also revealed that it would be appropriate to also subpoena Giulianni, Pompeo and Pence, as well as the President himself. They have released all but two of the closed-door transcripts, which nullifies that talking point. And the question isn't whether the President has the authority to conduct foreign policy, but how and for what purpose. That is the whole point of this. He abused Presidential power for himself. While impeachment has obviously consumed the cultural and media narrative, it is not all of the work that is being done in the House, as you full well know. There are at least 300 bills passed in the House that your cohort McConnell in the Senate refuses to take up. And perhaps, most tellingly, is that throughout all of this, I'm not hearing, seeing or reading you or any other politician refuting the facts of the case. You can only attack the process and the characters of the witnesses and your colleagues across the aisle. The facts show that the President did exactly what he is being accused of, and he involved many other people in doing so. The question you have to answer doesn't have anything to do with how "mean" or "unfair" the Democrats are being; it is simply this: Is what the President did ok with you? Is the evidence of how he speaks and acts reflective of the values you claim to hold? Is America better off now, or has Russia succeeded in destabilizing both the US and Europe by fostering domestic, internal divisions? I can't say what will happen with the impeachment or the next election. What I can say is that this process is the right thing to do. I am confident that history will not look kindly on this administration or those that are complicit or cover for them. That's assuming those that have chosen this side don't get indicted themselves.