Dem Rep Who Opposes Impeachment Meets with Trump, Plans To Switch Parties: Reports
With a House vote looming on impeaching President Donald Trump, one Democrat reportedly is jumping ship as the pressure builds on others to follow.
Multiple news media outlets. including The New York Times and Fox News, reported that Democratic Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey is planning to switch parties.
Van Drew, who opposed the impeachment inquiry when it began in October despite calling Trump’s July 25 phone call with the president of Ukraine “unsavory,” has soured even further on the process.
“It was supposed to be bipartisan, it was supposed to be incontrovertible. It was supposed to be something that was always on the rarest of circumstances,” Van Drew said last week in discussing impeachment, according to Politico. “Well it’s not bipartisan.”
Van Drew’s disenchantment led to a Friday meeting with President Donald Trump, who later tweeted his support for Van Drew.
“Always heard Jeff is very smart!” he said.
Wow, that would be big. Always heard Jeff is very smart! https://t.co/7yDPU4N3wd
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 15, 2019
Van Drew represents the 2nd Congressional District in southern New Jersey, which Trump won in 2016.
CNN reported that the party switch will follow the impeachment vote, currently scheduled for Wednesday.
Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York said Van Drew is among many Democrats who are disenchanted with impeachment.
“Jeff has been very articulate with regards to his opposition. He has seen the forest through the trees, calling out this impeachment sham for exactly what it is,” Zeldin said Sunday on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”
Zeldin said the issue is bigger than Van Drew.
“You have 31 House Democrats who are in districts won by Donald Trump in 2016, those Trump voters in those districts, when they were sending these House Democrats to Washington, when they were voting for them in 2018, they were voting for these House Democrats to go to Washington and work with the president, not to go to Washington and to impeach the president,” he said.
Those Democrats are being pressured to oppose impeachment.
On Saturday, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted a list of Democrats in districts his father won in 2016 with a companion tweet that read, in part, “Call non-stop, tweet at them, tell them this will NOT STAND & you’ll remember in Nov!”
Enough! These Democrats in Trump districts said they were with @realDonaldTrump. They lied! – Now now its time to hear from OUR MOVEMENT. Here’s a complete thread of their handles & phone #s. Call non-stop, tweet at them, tell them this will NOT STAND & you’ll remember in Nov! RT
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) December 14, 2019
The Washington Post, citing congressional sources it did not name, offered estimates that at least a half-dozen Democrats will defect from the party line and oppose impeachment.
“What you’re seeing is from the far left of the party these other freshmen, way to the left, who have really taken over a lot of the Democratic Party. They’ve rolled Nancy Pelosi, they’ve gotten them to pursue this impeachment charade,” Zeldin said. “And you have people like Jeff Van Drew shaking their head and saying, ‘Hey, this isn’t why I came here [to Washington].’”
Although Van Drew has kept mum about his intentions, he is already under attack.
“Betraying our values by siding with Donald Trump is the final straw and made it impossible for him to continue being supported by our party, as grassroots activists, local party leaders in his district, and I have made clear in recent weeks,” Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, said in a statement Saturday, according to The Post. “This party switch is cynical and desperate, and I am confident that a Democrat who shares the values and priorities of our Democratic Party will hold this seat.”
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