Pat Toomey says he will vote against articles of impeachment

HARRISBURG — Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania said Tuesday he will vote to acquit President Donald Trump on two impeachment charges, maintaining that the president didn’t commit an impeachable offense and that removing Trump would cause “societal upheaval.”

Toomey sided with nearly all of his fellow Republicans in advance of Wednesday’s virtually certain votes to acquit Trump. Democratic Sen. Bob Casey planned to discuss his decision later Tuesday in a floor speech, his office said.

Toomey’s announcement that he would vote to acquit came as no surprise, after voting against calling additional witnesses in the Senate and repeatedly saying that he did not think Trump had committed an impeachable offense when he pushed Ukraine’s president in a July telephone conversation to “look into” Democratic rival Joe Biden.

In an editorial published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Toomey said Trump’s actions were not “‘perfect. Some were inappropriate.”

But, Toomey said, he disagreed with the abuse of power charge, saying there are legitimate national interests for seeking investigations into apparent corruption. Toomey also disputed the obstruction of Congress charge, saying “a president’s defense of his legal and constitutional rights and responsibilities is not an impeachable offense.”

Toomey noted that aid to Ukraine was released “after a brief pause” and that Ukraine never announced or conducted investigations. He also said the pause in aid did not hinder Ukraine’s ability to combat Russia, contending that the Trump administration is making a greater commitment to it than under Trump’s predecessor, President Barack Obama.

“Even if House Democrats’ presumptions about President Trump’s motives are true, additional witnesses in the Senate, beyond the 17 who testified in the House, are unnecessary because the president’s actions do not rise to the level of removing him from office,” Toomey wrote. “Nor do they warrant the societal upheaval that would result from his removal from office and the ballot months before an election. Our country is already far too divided, and this would only make matters worse.”

Toomey is in his second term, which runs through 2022. Toomey has never been among Trump’s biggest supporters. He did not campaign with Trump in the 2016 election, he did not attend the 2016 GOP convention and he only announced that he would vote for Trump after he had cast his ballot barely an hour before polls closed in 2016’s election.

Toomey also has not appeared at Trump’s rallies in Pennsylvania since then, although a campaign spokesman has said Toomey plans to actively campaign for Trump’s re-election in 2020.