Republican lawmakers sure are quiet. It’s as if they have no opinion on getting all the information from the whistleblower, or perhaps they just have no spine.
Just one Republican senator has issued a statement calling “for the facts to come out.”
And just one Republican member of Congress has said this could be “a major problem.” Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said:
“No president should ever utilize or use American power in any way like to affect an election… So, if that happened, that would be a problem.”
“It’s one thing to go after corruption. We should. That’s a huge problem in Ukraine…but if you say, go after it specifically for a political target that affects somebody in office in the United States, that’s a major problem.”
But where are Kinzinger’s colleagues? And where are Romney’s fellow Senators? Washington Post opinion writer Jennifer Rubin says it’s time to put pressure on members of the GOP party:
Republicans — any member of Congress and any Cabinet member — must be asked in any media or congressional appearance whether the “threat of withholding congressionally authorized funds to — in the Post’s words — ‘extort’ a foreign leader into investigating a domestic political opponent and his family” is impeachable. No hedging, no filibustering.
She goes on to say:
The American people have a right to know if Republicans actually think this is acceptable. They should also be asked if the president has the power to prevent a whistleblower’s complaint from reaching Congress in contravention of the whistleblower statute. Until a firm answer to those two questions is obtained, the questioner should keep at it for as long as it takes to get an answer.
For those who choose to stay silent, stay complacent, Republican strategist Rick Wilson (a Trump critic) points out:
I just like to always bear in mind that 49 Republicans in the house and eight in the Senate lost their seats after spending a year defending Nixon’s corruption.