Speier: However impeachment ends, justice must be pursued

“This is a very important exercise of our constitutional responsibilities regardless of how it turns out,” she later added.

Speier, D-San Mateo, spoke Thursday at South San Francisco High School for her town hall co-sponsored by the San Mateo County Office of Education.

“He will forever be impeached,” she said of President Trump. “The question is, ‘Will he be convicted?’” 

Republicans want impeachment concluded quickly and not an issue when Trump makes his State of the Union address Feb. 4, Speier said.

She referred to “the iron fist of Mitchell McConnell,” the Republican senator from Kentucky and Senate majority leader.

Stanford professor Bernadette Meyler spoke with Speier at the forum and said the failed impeachment of President Andrew Johnson in 1868 was always a mark on his presidency. 

Meyler and Speier responded to written questions submitted at the forum.

Isn’t impeachment political since no evidence shows Trump is guilty of a crime, one question asked.

“The evidence was given by the president himself,” Speier said.

Trump withheld aid to Ukraine because he wanted to get dirt on Joe Biden, Speier said to applause.

“Late Show” host Stephen Colbert compared the president to Richard Nixon and said Trump’s actions are like showing up at the Watergate and leaving your calling card, Speier recounted. 

Asked if there is any chance Republican senators would vote for impeachment, Speier answered “You never know in politics.” 

Is impeachment worth it when the effort could increase Trump’s chances for re-election?

“We have no choice,” Speier said.

If the law is ignored, she said, “We move into an anarchy or autocracy.”

The congresswoman called Trump “a very good messenger” and a man who “knows how to brand.”

Impeachment is not taking precedence over issues in the 14th Congressional District she represents, Speier stated.

“I come home every weekend,” she said.

Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House, is third in line for the presidency after Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, Speier said, and Pelosi would take office if the two men are impeached.

Pelosi could conceivably be the first woman president 

“I would applaud it,” Speier said. 

Many in Congress are exhausted by impeachment, Speier said. Her New Year’s resolution was to get eight hours of sleep a night. In her work, she’s lucky to get 5-and-a-half hours, she added.

Ran Petel, a Republican, running against Speier in the March 3 primary, said Friday that he asked to be invited to the forum.

“I wanted to be on the same stage with her,” Petel said, “answering the same questions.”

Petel, 50, a Foster City resident and financial executive, said he should have been included in the forum co-sponsored by the San Mateo County Office of Education.

“Only showing one side and calling it educational is really unfair,” said Petel.

The congressional candidate also said of Speier that, “I heard she is shying away from any debate.”

Speier said Friday that debates in the congressional race will be held. The Thursday forum on impeachment was not a campaign event, Speier said.

“Mr. Petel is trying to take a legislative function and turn it into a political one,” she said. “I am not going to be a party to it.”

Petel could have attended as a constituent and asked questions, Speier added.

Linda Koelling, former mayor of Foster City and a member of the Republican Central Committee in San Mateo County, said Friday that Petel should have been a part of the forum Thursday.

“Let the people discern the information when they hear both sides,” Koelling said.

San Mateo County Superintendent Nancy Magee, said after the Thursday forum that having a Democrat and Republican point of view would have made the town hall a political event.

Pat Murray, president of the South San Francisco Unified School District Board of Trustees, said questions asked at the forum included Republican perspectives on impeachment.

The school district, in an email, said it “has always prided itself on providing meaningful learning experiences that encourage our students to embrace different ideas and perspectives.”

Renee Celio, 16, a junior at South San Francisco High School, said after the forum that seeing Speier discuss impeachment allowed students to understand the significance of the issue. 

ryan@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 106