Lucas: With impeachment concluded, Congress must get back to work

With Impeachment Concluded, Congress Must Get Back to Work

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Frank Lucas (OK-03) released the following statement after the U.S. Senate voted to acquit President Donald Trump on both articles of impeachment by a vote of 52–48 and 53–47, respectively:

“For more than 4 months, the American people have been distracted by a purely partisan impeachment. Even before Speaker Nancy Pelosi formally announced the House’s impeachment inquiry, House Democrats were driven to impeach the President. In fact, 3 previous articles of impeachment were brought before the House before September with 103 House Democrats out of 233 voting to impeach the President before the President’s phone call in question to Ukrainian President Zelensky ever took place.

Over the course of the inquiry in the House, Members heard more than 100 hours of deposition testimony from 17 witnesses. After failing to come to an agreement with the Trump Administration for related documents, House impeachment managers instead rushed to their preconceived judgement, withdrawing subpoenas and choosing not to issue a subpoena to their self-identified key witness- former National Security Advisor John Bolton. Instead of pursuing the full extent of their own impeachment articles, House Democrats instead chose to expedite their political preference over the truth.

Now that the Senate has acquitted the President, protecting the institution of our democracy from a flawed and partisan probe, I hope we can return to focusing on legislation that the American people sent us to Congress to address. Our communities’ roads and bridges are in need of repair and investment and our nation is in dire need of a healthcare system that provides access to quality, affordable healthcare options with lower healthcare costs. Bipartisan legislation was long a norm of our historic institution and it’s my hope we can return to that civil norm.”