A House Democrat, who voted to pass two articles of impeachment against President Trump, warned that Democrats must not turn the impeachment process into “a sham.”
“It needs to go as far as it needs to go so that the American people feel confident that the process is fair and honest and that in fact it’s not a sham, it’s not a kangaroo court,” said New York Rep. Adriano Espaillat during an interview on CNN Thursday.
Espaillat, 65, represents New York’s 13th District in Upper Manhattan and is the first Dominican-born member of Congress.
“I think both McConnell and leader Schumer should sit down and work out the rules of the game, and they should be fair and equitable, and I think that’s what we’re waiting for,” added Espaillat.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has yet to send the two articles of impeachment to the Senate, demanding that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republicans provide a fair trial.
“We cannot name managers until we see what the process is on the Senate side,” Pelosi told reporters at a news conference after Trump’s impeachment. “So far, we haven’t seen anything that looks fair to us. We are hoping it will be fairer, and when we see that, we’ll appoint managers.”
Espaillat, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, added that he believes in “an open-windows approach. Let the oxygen, let the air come in, so it’s not toxic and it’s transparent.”
