How did Kentucky congressmen vote on Trump’s impeachment?

Each Kentucky congressman voted along party lines Wednesday in the House of Representatives’ impeachment of President Donald Trump.

Rep. John Yarmuth, the state’s lone Democrat on Capitol Hill, was the only Kentuckian to vote to impeach the president. The Louisville congressman, who represents the state’s 3rd Congressional District, stated his intention by saying evidence of Trump’s “attempt to extort Ukraine’s president for political gain is overwhelming.”

“Far from an isolated incident, these crimes are an exclamation point on his continued abuse of the presidency, which, left unchecked, would shatter the foundation of our constitutional system, and thus American democracy,” Yarmuth said in a statement.

The rest of Kentucky’s representatives — five Republicans — voted against impeaching Trump. Lexington’s Andy Barr, who represents the 6th District, said when filing for re-election Monday that Trump was doing his job when he asked the Ukranian president to look into corruption before Trump released funds appropriated by Congress.

If a Democratic president did what Trump is accused of doing, Barr said he wouldn’t support the impeachment effort.

“No, I wouldn’t, because again, Democrats have not even alleged, because they don’t even have any evidence, they have not alleged a high crime and misdemeanor or any kind of criminal violation or criminal statute,” Barr said. “They’re not even citing any criminal statute.”

After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s resolution for an impeachment inquiry, Barr said in October that the process was not transparent, bipartisan or fair.

On the House floor Wednesday, Barr said Trump’s actions actually advanced national security. He later called it a “sad day for our country” when Trump was impeached.

Also speaking on the House floor Wednesday, James Comer, R-Tompkinsville, called the impeachment process “rigged.”

“From the start, this has been a baseless attempt to undo the will of 63 million Americans who voted for President Trump,” Comer said. “I can tell you — the people I represent in Kentucky — the very people who voted for this President to enact change and fight for this country — are appalled at the charade they’ve seen in the House in recent months.”

Last week, he said on Fox News that Pelosi would have a hard time getting enough votes to pass impeachment in the House.

“The ultimate end of the Democrats’ embarrassment will be to fail to get enough votes to impeach the president,” he said.

Thomas Massie, a Republican who represents the 4th District, tweeted Wednesday calling the impeachment vote a “caustic stunt.” He earlier called it “theater.”

In an interview last month with Gray DC, Massie said he expected the impeachment to progress to the Senate, “where it will completely die.”

According to Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Somerset, the impeachment inquiry reveals Democrats “are grasping at straws to steal an election decided by voters in 2016.”

The 5th District congressman said in October that the investigations of Trump showed “no collusion, no obstruction (and) no high crimes or misdemeanors.”

Rogers previously voted to impeach President Bill Clinton on perjury and obstruction of justice 20 years ago.

In a statement he released after the vote, Rogers said Democrats never presented any evidence to show Trump committed an impeachable offense.

“I voted against the articles of impeachment because this is a shameful political charade that has divided our nation,” he said. “We need to move on from this spectacle and do the job we were elected to do for the American people.”

Brett Guthrie, a 2nd District congressman from Bowling Green, told Gray DC in September that after reading through an account of Trump’s Ukraine phone call, he “didn’t see anything in there that seemed impeachable, or anything that was a high crime or a misdemeanor.”

In the Senate impeachment trial, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, also a Kentucky Republican, has said he is confident there will be a “largely partisan outcome” by the GOP-led Senate, according to CNN.

McConnell said he will speak on the Senate floor Thursday morning at 9:30 about the impeachment.

This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 8:56 PM.