Swalwell doesn't regret House's impeachment vote, says Trump 'reaffirms' why it was needed
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Ca), speaking at a National Press Club Book Event Thursday about his book "The End Game: Inside the Impeachment of Donald Trump," said that the only regret he has about impeachment is “we didn’t do enough to hold the administration accountable.”
When asked by National Press Club President Michael Freedman whether the impeachment was “worth it“ given the president’s behavior since the acquittal, Swalwell replied, “Every single day, the president makes the impeachers look like geniuses." Referring to. to the recent firings of several inspector generals and the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Swalwell said the president "reaffirms why he was impeached."
In response to a question on whether the House believed once it impeached the president the Senate would convict him, Swalwell said that question was grappled with but “we thought we should not let the Senate off the hook.” He added that if “we assumed they wouldn’t convict, then you will never know until you try.”
Swalwell gave several reasons to go forward with the impeachment. Trump was “worthy of being impeached, by the evidence, more than probably any other president ever,” he said. If the House did not act, he said, future presidents accused of misconduct could say, “Trump wasn’t impeached for what he did and I didn’t do anything that bad.” Thus, by not acting, Congress could lower the standards of conduct acceptable for a president.
Thirdly, “we learned that when you check Donald Trump, he backs down,” Swalwell noting that Ukraine did not get the aid appropriated by Congress until the House launched an investigation. “You can stop and reverse his corruption if you hold him accountable,” he added.
On the upcoming presidential election, Swalwell said the House is holding oversight hearings on misinformation and is “naming and shaming” to make the public aware. He applauded Twitter for putting a disclaimer on Trump’s tweets on mail-in balloting as “not accurate.”
Swalwell noted that in funding bills for the coronavirus, the House had proposed funding for states to conduct mail-in balloting, but were told by the White House that it rejects the issue.“I think they [the White House] would rather let the economy flatline" if the House says it refuses to pass an economic relief bill without the proposal.
Swalwell said he believes the states should fund mail-in balloting to keep their residents safe from exposure to coronavirus. He suggested that if there is a President Biden and a Democratic Congress the money would be “backfilled” in January.
The only way he was able to write his book, Swalwell said, was to go home and recount to his one-year old daughter, in a sing-song voice to keep her from fussing, what had happened at the impeachment hearing that day.
“It was a story," he said, "I wanted both my young children to receive — a tribute to the courageous few who came forward and risked their lives to hold the president accountable, but also a condemnation of those who put their own job ahead of holding the president accountable,”