Republican Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger pushed back on introducing articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump in a Sunday appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” saying, he doesn’t “think impeachment is the smart move.”
When asked by host George Stephanopoulos if he would vote for an impeachment resolution, Kinzinger said, “I’ll vote the right way,” but added that “there’s a lot of still negotiation going on.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as a growing list of Senators and other House members, has signaled her support for articles of impeachment to be introduced after the U.S. Capitol was stormed Wednesday by Trump supporters.
“I think there’s a moment that we’re in right now where Donald Trump, he’s looking really, I mean, bad,” Kinzinger said. “You just can’t even put that into words, right? He stirred up a crowd, it was an executive branch attack on the legislative branch, one of the worst days in American history. So, I’ll vote the right way, you know, if I’m presented with that. I just think it’s probably not the smartest move right now, but I think that’s going to be out of my hands.”
Kinzinger called for Trump to be removed via the 25th Amendment on Thursday and said that impeaching the president “victimizes” him.
Stephanopoulos then asked Kinzinger what the alternatives to impeachment would be. Some members of the House are suggesting that Trump be prevented from running for office again, including Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who appeared on “This Week” immediately before Kinzinger.
“I think it would be the right move if we had more than basically 10 days left of the administration,” Kinzinger began. “I think there’s a lot of ideas with censure, with preventing him from being able to run again. You know, the reality is we just don’t have a lot of time in this administration left, which right now is a good thing.”
Kinzinger went on to describe that he thought “we were very close to actually having members of Congress killed” in the riot, and that there would have been people “in really bad shape” had the rioters breached the “last line of defense” protecting the members who were taking shelter. (RELATED: Rep. Hank Johnson: If Trump Supporter Wasn’t Shot ‘We Would Have Been Swinging From Those Railings’)
“How do you explain why more of your fellow Republican members of Congress, more of your fellow Republican senators, not come forward and said simply President Trump must go, President Trump must resign?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“Everybody’s got their own decisions,” Kinzinger said. “A lot of it is fear. Fear that infects so many sides of the debate right now.”