Democrat Jared Golden: Impeachment Will Not Pull the ‘Country Apart’

Freshman Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) said Sunday that Democrats could move forward with their impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump without pulling the “country apart.”

Golden, a freshman Democrat, predicted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) could move forward with their impeachment inquiry without fracturing the nation.

Golden said:

Whistleblower has come forward. We have laws around whistleblowers and it’s the job of Congress to look into any allegations brought forward by a whistleblower. I wish this was not the situation that we’re in, but I do think that we can do this in a way that puts a real focus on you know making sure that it doesn’t pull the country apart.

Rep. Golden, a freshman Democrat who ousted Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R-ME) during the 2018 midterm elections, has resisted efforts to come out definitely in favor of impeaching President Trump.

“I don’t agree with anyone that is rushing to conclusions or making assumptions,” Golden said in early October. “This needs to be a fact-finding mission for the good of our country.”

Impeachment has quickly become a divided prospect for most Americans. Many polls show roughly half of Americans support impeachment, while the other half oppose impeaching Trump.

A recent Morning Consult/Politico poll found that national support for impeachment has fallen from 51 to 47 percent from mid-October.

However, despite Golden’s hope impeachment will not divide the country, opposition to the process has already engendered bipartisan opposition.

While Rep. Golden voted for the impeachment process resolution that would formalize the rules and proceedings regarding the impeachment inquiry, Reps. Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ) and Collin Peterson (D-MN) voted against it.

Rep. Van Drew said recently that impeachment would “not be good Democrats of Republicans.”

Democrats’ support for impeachment has left Speaker Pelosi and freshman Democrats little room to negotiate on issues important to their base such as health care and infrastructure.

White House Domestic Policy Director Joe Grogan told Breitbart News that the Trump administration continues to improve Americans’ health care, while Democrats are too “distracted by impeachment” to pass substantial legislation.

Former San Francisco, California, Mayor Willie Brown criticized Democrats for failing to deliver on their 2018 midterm election promise to both protect the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and pass legislation that would lower the cost of health care, such as drug pricing.

Brown asked rhetorically, “Remember health care, the issue that won so many elections for Democrats in 2018? You might, but they don’t seem to.”