Listen: Congressman Bacon Says He'll Vote No on Impeachment

Dec. 17, 2019, 5:45 p.m. ·

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Congressman Don Bacon. (Photo courtesy of Don Bacon)

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The House is expected to vote on two articles of impeachment against President Trump this week and one of those votes will come from Republican Congressman Don Bacon, who represents Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District. NET’s Jack Williams spoke to Bacon about his vote and how the process is playing to his constituents here in Nebraska.


Williams: You’ve been on record as saying you plan to vote against the articles of impeachment against President Trump. Is that still how you plan to vote?

Bacon: Yes, I’m going to be a no vote. I think the House is setting a bad precedent that’s going to hurt our country for decades. There were no high crimes or misdemeanors. I don’t think there was a crime and the voters are going to be able to decide this in ten and a half months.

Williams: So you think there is no case at all or you think what’s alleged doesn’t rise to the level of impeachment?

Bacon: I think it wasn’t wise for the President to bring up Joe Biden to President Zelensky. I think he opened himself up for attacks and for charges either way. But there is some argument there that it was within his constitutional responsibilities to be able to ask about it, because by law you can’t give aid to Ukraine unless he thinks they’re making an impact on corruption. There’s not a good case for impeachment. Now I think we can criticize. It wasn’t wise. But we have to remember Joe Biden is open to scrutiny on this as well and if we’re going to criticize the President for mentioning this to President Zelensky then we have to also say it was inappropriate for Joe Biden to threaten to withhold $1 billion in aid if they didn’t fire a prosecutor. My point is I think both sides should clean up their act when it comes to campaigns and trying to go after political opponents. I think both sides are guilty on this and we have to raise the bar, but I don’t think it was an impeachable offense.

Williams: You’re in a somewhat divided district. Is it risky at all for you to vote against impeachment and how do you think that will affect your re-election effort next year?

Bacon: Anytime you’re in a 52-48, 51-49 seat, there is a risk involved. I will tell you I think somewhere between 60% and 65% of the voters in my district I believe are opposed to impeachment. But I don’t base my decisions on polling. I think the facts are such where you can criticize the President on this. I don’t think impeachment is merited, in fact I think it’s a bad precedent. It opens us up for more partisan impeachments in the years to come. But it would be more dangerous if I was a Democrat in this seat voting for impeachment. I will tell you right now the majority of our voters in the 2nd District I’m fairly confident are opposed to it. I think there’s good people on both sides. There’s a division there, but I would say it’s about 60-40.

Williams: Nebraska GOP Senator John McCollister had some strong words for President Trump this week and says Republicans all over the country want him impeached. What are your thoughts on those comments? Is that something you’ve heard as well?

Bacon: I hear more that it is bad for the country, that it’s unfair to the President. So I disagree with John McCollister. And there are some, just like there are some Democrats who oppose impeachment. We’re going to have two Democrats in the House at least vote against impeachment. There will be zero Republicans in the House voting for it. When I’m in areas where they’re not Republican or Democrat, it’s gatherings, whether it’s Rotary Club or Christmas parties or senior citizens centers, I have more people come in emotional against impeachment than they are for it. But there are people on both sides, we’ve got to be honest about that. I would just say there are good people on both sides. We kind of demonize each other. I had a lady yesterday saying there’s no way that anybody could support Trump. I said ‘Ma’am, there are good people on both sides of aisle'. We just have to acknowledge that good people disagree on this.

Williams: You have a front row seat to a very interesting part of our political history in this country. What is it like to be there right now? Is it better or worse than people think it is? Right now we’re getting the impression that there’s no work getting done across the aisle. Is there bipartisan work getting done there in Washington?

Bacon: Yes there is. I’m the co-chair of the For Country caucus, which is ten Republicans and ten Democrats, we’re all veterans and we’re all trying to work on bills, we’re trying to find areas of agreement. I’m also part of the Problem Solvers caucus. There’s 23 Republicans and 23 Democrats, particularly more Centrist Democrats, so there are areas where we can find agreement when we work together and it happens a lot. But I’d say it’s a sad time for me because I think on the horizon when we’re going to have a majority party impeach a President from the other party really mainly because they don’t like him. It’s a bad precedent because what’s going to happen when the roles are reversed, if impeachment becomes a more quick response from one party against another party? Presidential selection should come from the voters unless there’s a high crime or misdemeanor and there is no crime and misdemeanor here. I mean there are things you can debate on, things you may not like. I think the President was truly open for criticism. But this is taking us down a path that five years from now we could see happen again and again, and it’s not good. When I ran for Congress as a challenger in 2016, I had fairly a prominent business owner in Omaha say he was for impeachment of (President) Obama and did I feel the same? I said, No, the President was duly elected and there were no high crimes and misdemeanors. I think this opens the Pandora’s Box and it’s going to hurt our country.