After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rallied her Democratic colleagues and successfully passed formal procedures for President Donald Trump’s impeachment process, Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert suggested that the possibility of removing the president through impeachment could lead the country into a “civil war.”
According to The Hill , Gohmert spoke shortly after the proceedings were passed in the Democrat-led House, saying that the ongoing investigation into Trump’s dealings with Ukraine is “about to push this country to a civil war if they were to get their wishes.”
The Texas lawmaker apparently didn’t make the remark in jest, as he doubled down on his concern over the situation with another reference to a possible civil war in the United States.
“And if there’s one thing I don’t want to see in my lifetime, I don’t want to ever have participation in, it’s a civil war. Some historian, I don’t remember who, said, guns are only involved in the last phase of a civil war,” Gohmert said.
He made the remarks during an address on the House floor following the Democrats’ vote on the matter, adding that he acknowledges that while some people think the vote “was very important,” he felt that it “didn’t do much.”
The lawmaker went on to say that he was doubtful that the impeachment process would reach the point where an actual vote to impeach Trump would come to fruition. He cited the fact that it would then be sent to the U.S. Senate, where he claims it would be immediately shot down due to a “massive failure of due process, as well as no evidence, no direct evidence of any wrongdoing.”
Echoing the president’s thoughts on the impeachment inquiry, along with that of many other House and Senate Republicans, Gohmert labeled the process a “sham” and slammed Democrats for being secretive in the process of interviewing witnesses on select committees — none of which he is a member of.
He also railed against Democrats for posting armed guards outside of the facilities where witnesses were deposed, calling it a “gross unfairness” and claiming that “never in the history of this country” has a party used armed security to keep what he said are “authorized people” from being involved in the process.
While Thursday’s vote garnered the support of a vast majority of Democratic lawmakers, two Democrats voted against formalizing the rules. Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson and New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew both went against party lines, according to The Inquisitr . However, only one of the lawmakers reportedly voted against the process because of the belief that Trump hasn’t done anything wrong.
No Republican members of the House voted in favor of the measure.
