Democrat Rep. Jeff Van Drew (NJ) responded to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to move forward with impeaching President Donald Trump on Thursday by cautioning his party, warning them that what they are doing is tearing the United States apart.
CNN’s Manu Raju spoke with Van Drew about Pelosi’s decision, writing on Twitter: “Rep. Jeff Van Drew, one of two Democrats to vote against formalizing the impeachment inquiry, told me he plans to vote against all the articles of impeachment ‘unless there’s something that I haven’t seen, haven’t heard before.'”
Van Drew told Raju that Democrats should “be careful what [they] wish for” because impeachment “is tearing the nation apart.”
Van Drew warned Democrats to "be careful what you wish for" and he added that impeachment "is tearing the nation apart. … And I want to bring people together." Van Drew said he would have preferred a censure vote so they could "move on."
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 5, 2019
In an interview on Sunday with USA Today, Van Drew echoed similar sentiments, saying that he opposes removing the president.
“My job isn’t really to like or dislike him,” Van Drew said. “My job is to exact as much goodwill and help for my district and for this nation and for this world that I possibly can while he’s president.”
On the issue of impeachment, Van Drew said, “To some folks, that’s reminiscent of what was done to kings and queens many years ago. Everything our country doesn’t stand for.”
Van Drew is not the only Democrat to sound the alarm bells over impeachment.
Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) warned his party this week that if the get Trump removed from office that it could be a bad move politically because of who the Democrats may have to face from the GOP in 2020.
“I do think that it’s the right thing to do to remove him from office. I believe he is an imminent danger to this country and to our democracy, but I was saying that the political consequences may not be very good for the Democrats,” Yarmuth said. “I will guarantee you the Republican Party would not nominate Mike Pence to succeed him. They would nominate someone like Nikki Haley who would be much more difficult for Democrats to defeat.”
“I just think it could be bad politics,” Yarmuth added.
In late November, Democrat Rep. Brenda Lawrence (MI) said that Trump should be censured but not removed from office.
“You can censure, you don’t have to remove the president,” Lawrence said. “We are so close to an election. I will tell you, sitting here, knowing how divided this country is, I don’t see the value of kicking him out of office, but I do see the value of putting down a marker saying his behavior is not acceptable.”
In a subsequent tweet, Raju noted what Democrat Rep. Collin Peterson (MN), who also is opposed to impeachment, had to say about the matter following Pelosi’s announcement: “Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, the other Democrat who also opposed the inquiry, said this when I asked if he’d vote to impeach: ‘I don’t have an idea what they’re doing.’ And he walked on the floor.”
Peterson told a local media outlet on the issue of impeachment: “What I’ve said all along is that you can’t do this with one party. It’s not smart and it’s not going to work. I think if this is handled incorrectly, it will reelect Trump. That’s what I think.”
Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, the other Democrat who also opposed the inquiry, said this when I asked if he'd vote to impeach: "I don't have an idea what they're doing." And he walked on the floor.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 5, 2019
This report has been updated to add additional information.