Gabbard Joins Call for Impeachment Inquiry

Big Island Now file photo.

Hawai‘i Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, currently campaigning across Iowa as one of the remaining Democratic candidates for president, released a statement Friday addressing the notion of an impeachment inquiry in the House of Representatives.

Rep. Gabbard had withheld her support, even as the rest of the state’s federal delegation fell in behind a push for an impeachment inquiry from a largely Democratic coalition that serves as the House majority.

“Up to this point, I have been opposed to pursuing impeachment because it will further divide our already badly divided country,” Gabbard said. “However, after looking carefully at the transcript of the conversation with Ukrainian President, the whistleblower complaint, the Inspector General memo and President Trump’s comments about the issue, unfortunately, I believe that if we do not proceed with the inquiry, it will set a very dangerous precedent. Future presidents, as well as anyone in positions of power in the government, will conclude that they can abuse their position for personal gain, without fear of accountability or consequences.”

A full version of the whistleblower complaint can be viewed online here.

“If we allow the president to abuse his or her power, then our society will rot from top-down,” Gabbard continued. “We will turn into a Banana Republic, where people in positions of power—from the president all the way down to the traffic cop—will feel it’s OK to abuse their power with no consequences. This is not the kind of country that any of us want to see.”