WASHINGTON — Georgia Republican Senator David Perdue, a close ally of President Trump, is going on record against the House impeachment process.
Perdue introduced a resolution Thursday, along with most other GOP Senators, condemning the secret House hearings as “illegitimate.”
It’s one more indication that when Perdue runs for re-election in 2020, he and his Democrat rivals will make the race partly a referendum on President Trump.
At the White House Thursday, Perdue was one of nine Republican Senators having lunch with President Trump, underscoring their support of him. And at the Capitol, Perdue put his name on a Senate resolution condemning the Democrat-led, secret House impeachment process.
“House Democrats have abandoned decades of precedent,” Perdue wrote on Twitter. It’s a “partisan show trial,” an “Illegitimate impeachment inquiry.”
GOP Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said 41 Senators back the resolution, so far, calling on the President’s opponents to make the process public.
“We believe that a lot of people want to get Trump, and they don’t give a damn about how to get him,” Graham said. “I’m not telling you what he did or didn’t do. I’m telling you what they are doing in the House is dangerous to the country.”
But there are historic precedents of Congressional Republicans supporting secret investigative hearings, such as the one into then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's handling of 2012 attacks against two US government facilities in Benghazi, Libya. And in the current proceedings, 47 House Republicans do have access to the secret impeachment inquiry.
“When the Republicans talk about these secret hearings, I laugh because 47 Republicans have the opportunity to be in the room,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.
Perdue will be running for a second term over the next 12 months, on his record and the President’s.
The Democrats who are running to defeat Perdue are not commenting, yet, on Perdue’s resolution in support of the President and against the House proceedings. They have already been outspoken in their condemnation of the President and of Perdue’s close relationship with him.
As it is, House Democrats insist the impeachment hearings will go public - eventually. And they are, in effect, saying that Perdue will get everything he demands anyway - eventually - no resolution needed. While Perdue would count on his stand, now, helping to strengthen his support in Georgia among Trump voters next year.
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