Gabbard, Case part ways on impeachment vote

Hawaii’s two members of the U.S. House of Representatives diverged in Wednesday’s historic vote to impeach President Donald Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

U.S. Rep. Ed Case joined his Democratic colleagues who overwhelmingly voted in favor of the two articles of impeachment, while U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard abstained from voting. She registered instead as being “present.”

The vote to impeach Trump was almost strictly along party lines. Only three Democrats broke party ranks to vote against at least one of the impeachment articles, while Republicans voted unanimously against impeachment

Trump is the third president in history to be impeached. It will now fall to the Republican-controlled Senate to decide whether he should be removed from office.

Case was solemn after the vote, telling the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that there was nothing “joyful” about the decision to impeach the president.

“It’s very sad. It’s somber. It is tragic that we have come to this for only the third time in our history,” said Case.

Case said he heard from thousands of Hawaii constituents as he weighed his decision.

Asked if he was concerned about how partisan the vote was, he said he was.

“This was the most starkly partisan vote involving impeachment in our country’s history and yes, I am concerned that the House did not develop a nonpartisan consensus on the articles,” said Case.

“One of the key questions that I looked in the mirror and asked myself was, ‘Given the same circumstances, with another president in another Congress, would I do the same thing?’ And I felt that the answer to that was yes,” said Case. “And I fear that for too many this was more of a situational vote than a vote that would transcend the parties and the Congress and the president that we have today.”

Gabbard, who supported the impeachment inquiry, was the only member of the House to vote “present.” She said that while she believed Trump was guilty of wrongdoing, the process was too partisan.

“On the one side — the president’s defenders insist that he has done nothing wrong. They agree with the absurd proclamation that his conduct was ‘perfect,” Gabbard said in a statement. “They have abdicated their responsibility to exercise legitimate oversight, and instead blindly do the bidding of their party’s leader.

“On the other side — the president’s opponents insist that if we do not impeach, our country will collapse into dictatorship. All but explicitly, they accuse him of treason. Such extreme rhetoric was never conducive to an impartial fact-finding process.”

Gabbard, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, said that she was seeking to heal the country.

“So today, I come before you to make a stand for the center, to appeal to all of you to bridge our differences and stand up for the American people,” she wrote. “My vote today is a vote for much needed reconciliation and hope that together we can heal our country.”

Gabbard is known for her unconventional political style and her decision to abstain may please her supporters who are independents or lean to the right politically. Her decision drew strong reactions on social media.

“You don’t get a participation trophy for voting ‘present’ on one of the most crucial votes taken this Congress,” wrote Hawaii Sen. Kai Kahele (D, Hilo) who is running for Gabbard’s House seat. “The second district has been left voiceless once again.”

Dave Rubin, a political commentator and host of “The Rubin Report,” said it was a good move on Gabbard’s part. “Will the progressives tolerate such dissent or send her to the gulag! We shall see,” he wrote on Twitter.