ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday that he is “very troubled” by the controversy that has prompted an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, but he believes more facts need to be gathered.
Hogan, speaking at the Yahoo! Finance All Markets Summit in New York, said he is concerned about the politically charged process.
“I’m concerned that, how are we going to have a fair hearing, because it seems like the Democrats have already decided he’s guilty and should be removed right now, and the Republicans are like, ’We don’t even want to hear any facts. He’s not.’”
The governor also expressed concern about the declaration from the White House this week that it won’t cooperate with the impeachment probe. Still, he said it was premature to call for Trump’s removal from office.
“This whole idea of ignoring subpoenas and not cooperating doesn’t sit well with me or a lot of other people, but this whole rush to judgment and saying, ’We have accusations, we need to throw him out of office’ - that’s not the way the founders of the country envisioned it,” Hogan said.
The governor noted how his father Lawrence Hogan, who served in Congress, was the only Republican who voted for all three articles of impeachment against then-President Richard Nixon. He said his father argued for a fair and objective process to seek the facts, and only made his decision after seeing all the evidence.
“We’ve got to get to the facts and the truth … and we have to, in the middle of an election year, somehow step back from this crazy politics and do the fair thing objectively,” Hogan said.
Congress is conducting an impeachment inquiry based on a whistleblower’s allegation that Trump pressed the president of Ukraine to dig up dirt on political rival Joe Biden as he delayed military aid to the country.
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