One of Sen. Doug Jones’ (D-AL) top Republican opponents is calling him out for remaining silent on the Democrats’ rush to impeach President Donald Trump.
Rep. Bradley Byrne, who is vying for the Republican nomination to challenge Jones in 2020, urged the senator on Wednesday to be transparent on impeachment shortly after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she was beginning an inquiry into the process.
“Instead of voting on things that matter, the Democrats are officially trying to impeach President DonaldTrump. I’ll do everything I can to fight this nonsense,” Byrne wrote on social media. “The people of Alabama deserve to know: does Doug Jones support these baseless measures to impeach President Trump?”
Pelosi announced Wednesday the House would begin probing into whether or not Trump committed an offense worthy of impeachment by urging Ukraine’s newly-elected president to investigate Hunter Biden’s business dealings.
At the moment, Jones has not commented on the issue, choosing to remain silent. Neither the senator’s official office or his campaign responded to requests for comment on this story.
Jones’ silence is not altogether surprising. Since winning his seat in the 2017 special election to replace former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Jones has kept his head down on most major issues, attempting a tight balance acting between his party’s liberal base and the overwhelmingly conservative voters of Alabama. To that end, Jones has developed a history of dodging questions on the topic of impeachment.
“I think I’m just going to hold that one for a little bit,” said Jones when asked about the topic at a public event in March.
It is unclear, however, if Jones will be able to walk the tightrope for long. If House Democrats were able to reach the threshold of votes needed to approval articles of impeachment, something they are not even close to, then the full Senate would sit in judgement of the president. At that point, Jones would be forced between voting to either acquit the president or convict and remove him from office.