Rep. Jeff Van Drew, the one-time New Jersey Democrat who made headlines when he switched to the Republican Party in 2019, is asking President-elect Joe Biden to keep his promise to heal the nation.
“I’m calling on the president-elect, Joe Biden, to say, ‘Enough. Let’s try to come together,'” Van Drew said on Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo.
He argued that a second impeachment of President Trump would be ineffectual and divisive.
“The way to [achieve unity] is not to call for another impeachment [due to] the waste of money, the waste of time, the division that it will cause in the United States of America,” he explained, noting, “Tens of millions of people still did vote and still do support Donald Trump.”
Van Drew was joined by Vernon Jones, a fellow new GOP convert currently serving as a state representative in Georgia. Jones, considered a possible contender to run against beleaguered Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, concurred with the need for unity.
“We need to come together. We need to heal this country, not divide this country,” Jones said.
Van Drew’s remarks come amid mounting pressure from congressional Republicans to act to remove the president from office prior to his scheduled Jan. 20 departure. Republican Sens. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska called on Trump to resign due to his handling of the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill siege.
Alternatively, Trump can be forcibly removed from office if Vice President Mike Pence and a majority of the Cabinet vote accordingly, as Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois has advocated. A final possible avenue for early removal lies in Congress’s power to impeach and convict a sitting president, an option supported by 180 House Democrats. None of these paths is likely to succeed, given the current composition of the federal government.
