Trump administration blasts U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin for support of impeachment
Todd SpanglerWASHINGTON — The Trump White House hit back at U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin on Tuesday after the Michigan congresswoman said she would support impeaching the president in a vote expected this week.
Slotkin, D-Holly, announced in the Free Press on Monday morning that she would support articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. She said he abused his office by asking the Ukrainian president to investigate a political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, with no clear evidence that Biden had done anything wrong.
She also said Trump obstructed justice by refusing to comply with requests for information made to him by Congress.
On Tuesday morning, Trump's deputy press secretary, Steven Groves, put out a statement criticizing Slotkin, who represents a congressional district Trump won in 2016.
"Michiganders deserve a leader who puts their needs ahead of hyper-partisan politics, but Rep. Elissa Slotkin sold out her constituents for (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi’s sham impeachment process," Groves said.
"Instead of working to revitalize the manufacturing industry, improve our infrastructure, or modernize our trade deals, as President Trump has continually fought for, it is a shame that Slotkin, Pelosi and the coastal elites have done nothing but focus on impeachment since day one of his presidency," Groves continued.
In a town hall Monday, however, Slotkin generally praised the Trump administration's efforts to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in such a way as to make labor laws more enforceable in Mexico and protect jobs and trade for Michigan workers.
Slotkin's office responded to the White House statement calling it a "false" attack.
"Michiganders know that know Rep. Slotkin is fighting for the issues that matter to them: Her bipartisan bill to lower drug costs passed the House, as did landmark legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices — something the president himself has said he supports — and she secured provisions in the (annual defense authorization bill) to clean up PFAS contamination in Michigan," Slotkin's office said.
"This is on top of the vote she will be taking this week on the USMCA (the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the name for the NAFTA replacement)," Slotkin's statement added.
Slotkin had not been supportive of impeachment in the past -- contrary to the White House statement -- but only decided to back an impeachment inquiry after the president's July call to the Ukrainian president asking him to investigate a top potential Democratic candidate in next year's election.
It is a federal crime to solicit aid from a foreign government in a U.S. election. Trump and his supporters, however, have insisted he did nothing improper in the call and was only trying to root out corruption, despite there being no indication Biden did anything wrong when he, as vice president, tried to have Ukraine remove a prosecutor, per the policy of U.S. and allied diplomats.
Biden's son, Hunter, was on the energy board of a Ukrainian company at the time of Biden's action, but neither he nor the company were under active investigation. There is also no indication that Trump directly asked for any other corruption investigations by foreign leaders.
Read more:
Freshmen Democrats want Rep. Justin Amash to serve as impeachment manager
Michigan Republicans send Pelosi letter complaining impeachment process unfair
Contact Todd Spangler attspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler. Read more onMichigan politics and sign up for ourelections newsletter.