FACT CHECK: Did Four Republicans Vote To Impeach Trump?
An image shared on Facebook more than 15,000 times claims that Republican Reps. Will Hurd of Texas, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Fred Upton of Michigan and Susan Brooks of Indiana voted to impeach President Donald Trump.
“WANTED OUT OF OFFICE … for obstructing progress,” reads the caption.
Verdict: False
To date, there has been no House vote to impeach Trump. Hurd, Upton, Brooks and Fitzpatrick have all expressed, to some extent, opposition to the impeachment inquiry.
Fact Check:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced in late September that the House would initiate an impeachment inquiry into Trump. The announcement came after a whistleblower complaint alleged that Trump pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.
The Facebook post, which has been shared more than 15,000 times, alleges that four Republican members of Congress voted to impeach the president. “Will Hurd, Fred Upton, Susan Brooks and Brian Fitzpatrick,” reads the caption. “Remember these faces next election!”
There has, however, been no House vote to impeach the president to date, making it impossible for the four Republicans mentioned in the Facebook post to have voted in favor of such a motion. In fact, the House only just passed a resolution formalizing the procedures of the impeachment inquiry into Trump on Oct. 31.
The resolution passed largely along party lines – 232-196 – with two Democrats voting against it. Hurd, Upton, Brooks and Fitzpatrick all voted against it, along with the rest of the House Republicans, according to Fox News. (RELATED: Did Vermont Gov. Phil Scott Vote To Impeach President Trump?)
Furthermore, the congresswoman and three congressmen have all expressed, to some extent, opposition to the impeachment inquiry. The New York Times lists all four of them in the “no or not now” column of its interactive “Who Supports an Impeachment Inquiry Against Trump?” list.
Josh Paciorek, the communications director for Upton, told the Daily Caller in an email that the Michigan congressman does not support the impeachment inquiry.
Hurd’s communication director, Callie Strock, confirmed in an email that the claim in the Facebook post was “totally false.” Hurd has also voted in opposition to the impeachment inquiry when it has come up in previous legislation, according to Strock.
A press release from Brooks’ office says that the Indiana congresswoman views the recent impeachment hearings as “partisan and unwarranted” and “doesn’t see anything criminal or impeachable in the summary of Trump’s conversation with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy (sic).”
“The Congressman believes that Speaker Pelosi’s response, however, to move forward with impeachment proceedings is ill-advised,” Fitzpatrick’s office said in a statement to The New York Times.
Fitzpatrick and Brooks’ offices did not return the Caller’s requests for comment.
