Democratic Rep. Brenda Lawrence of Michigan now favors censuring President Trump after backing impeachment proceedings over allegations that he withheld military aid from Ukraine for his personal benefit.
Lawrence appeared on the Michigan radio show No BS News Hour with host Charlie LeDuff on Sunday to discuss the impeachment process in the House. Lawrence told LeDuff, to his surprise, that she does not support removing the president from office and that she would ask her caucus to censure him instead.
“We are so close to an election. I will tell you, sitting here knowing how divided this country is, I don’t see the value of taking him out of office,” Lawrence said. “I do see the value of putting down a marker saying his behavior is not acceptable.”
She continued, “I want to censure. I want it on the record that the House of Representatives did their job and they told this president and any president coming behind him that this is unacceptable behavior and, under our Constitution, we will not allow it.”
Lawrence also said she would have a “discussion with the party and with the caucus” to censure Trump instead of impeaching him.
Her comments stand in contrast to her Oct. 4 interview with Sirius XM host Dean Obeidallah, during which she appeared to back impeaching Trump over the allegations.
“I feel strongly that for my legacy, for my time in history, sitting here at this table with an oath of office to protect this country, to protect the democracy of the United States of America, I cannot sit silent, that I must move forward with [impeachment] because this is egregious,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence represents a heavily Democratic district that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won with a roughly 60% margin in the 2016 presidential election. The district has not been represented by a Republican since 1948.
House Democrats launched impeachment proceedings against Trump after a CIA whistleblower filed a complaint alleging that the president leveraged United States military aid to pressure Ukraine into launching investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, with the intent of harming Biden’s 2020 presidential run.
Reports have suggested that the anonymous whistleblower is 33-year-old CIA analyst Eric Ciaramella but have not yet been confirmed. Ciaramella was Ukraine director on the National Security Council during the end of the Obama administration and remained there during the early months of the Trump administration when he was briefly acting senior director for European and Russian affairs.
The Washington Examiner reported that Ciaramella is now a deputy national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia on the National Intelligence Council, reporting to the director of national intelligence.
Lawrence’s office did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment.
