Democrat Amy McGrath, who is challenging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellJonathan Van Ness meets with Nancy Pelosi to discuss the Equality Act Senate confirms Trump’s Army secretary nominee The Hill’s 12:30 Report: Intel chief defends handling of whistleblower complaint MORE (R-Ky.) in 2020, announced Friday she supports House Democrats’ impeachment investigation into President TrumpDonald John TrumpWhistleblower filed Trump complaint after going to CIA general counsel: report Trump campaign, GOP raise M after Pelosi announces impeachment inquiry New York Times Opinion hits Trump in Star Wars-themed video MORE.
McGrath, a Marine veteran, expressed alarm at the national security implications of President Trump’s suggestion to Ukraine in July that it open an investigation into former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenWhistleblower filed Trump complaint after going to CIA general counsel: report Trump campaign, GOP raise M after Pelosi announces impeachment inquiry New York Times Opinion hits Trump in Star Wars-themed video MORE, calling it “serious and unprecedented.”
“This is about our national security. Failing to fully investigate these allegations will leave our nation more vulnerable to threats from foreign governments that think they can target U.S. citizens, and corrupt our democracy, in order to gain favorable foreign policy action from our president,” McGrath said in a statement.
“Americans deserve to know all of the facts underlying these allegations, and I fully support the House inquiry to do so,” she added. “Congress must be able to fulfill its constitutional role as a co-equal branch of our government and hold this president accountable while signaling to the world that our foreign policy and national security are not for sale.”
In a preview of how impeachment is set to play in congressional races in the 2020 cycle, McConnell’s campaign needled McGrath Friday, resurfacing comments she made earlier this year opposing impeachment.
“McGrath previously stated that ‘impeachment would be the wrong course’ before Democrats began their search for more Senate candidate options in Kentucky,” McConnell’s campaign manager Kevin Golden told the Lexington Herald Leader. “Yet another flip-flop makes it all the more clear that McGrath is a political opportunist who values the contributions from her California donors over the convictions of the people of Kentucky.”
Speaker Nancy PelosiNancy PelosiWhistleblower filed Trump complaint after going to CIA general counsel: report Jonathan Van Ness meets with Nancy Pelosi to discuss the Equality Act Trump campaign, GOP raise M after Pelosi announces impeachment inquiry MORE (D-Calif.) Tuesday announced the House would launch a formal impeachment investigation into the president amid an uproar about his dealings with Ukraine.
A memorandum of a July call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky showed that Trump pressured Kiev to open an investigation into Biden.
A whistleblower complaint regarding the call said that a future phone call or meeting between the two presidents “would depend on whether Zelensky showed willingness to ‘play ball,’” and that “multiple White House officials with direct knowledge” of the call expressed concern that Trump was using his office for his personal political gain.
