AOC Slams Tulsi Gabbard Over ‘present’ Vote On Impeachment Articles

Emily Jacobs

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed 2020 Democratic pres­i­den­tial hope­ful Tulsi Gabbard for being the only House Democrat to vote “present” on impeach­ment arti­cles against President Trump and refus­ing to take a stand. “Today was very con­se­quen­tial, and to not take a stand one way or anoth­er, on a day of such great con­se­quence to this coun­try, I think is quite dif­fi­cult,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters after the his­toric vote Wednesday, adding, “We are sent here to lead.”

Rep. Gabbard (D‑Hawaii) did not speak on the House floor, while most oth­er mem­bers gave 30-sec­ond to one-minute speech­es to explain or jus­ti­fy their stances. During the sec­ond vote on charges of obstruc­tion of Congress, Gabbard was seen stand­ing against the back wall of the House cham­ber on the side where Republicans sit, accord­ing to Fox News. After the pres­i­den­tial con­tender stunned House Democrats and Republicans alike by refus­ing to opt for or against the two arti­cles, Gabbard released a state­ment explain­ing her deci­sion. “After doing my due dili­gence in review­ing the 658-page impeach­ment report, I came to the con­clu­sion that I could not in good con­science vote either yes or no,” the Hawaii Democrat said. 00:03 /​00:15

“I could not in good con­science vote against impeach­ment because I believe President Trump is guilty of wrong­do­ing. “I also could not in good con­science vote for impeach­ment because removal of a sit­ting President must not be the cul­mi­na­tion of a par­ti­san process, fueled by trib­al ani­mosi­ties that have so grave­ly divid­ed our coun­try,” Gabbard added.

Gabbard’s “present” votes were essen­tial­ly her way of abstain­ing from tak­ing a posi­tion on the issue, while still vot­ing on the mea­sures. She went on to say in her state­ment that she would intro­duce a res­o­lu­tion on the House floor cen­sur­ing Trump. Ocasio-Cortez didn’t buy her expla­na­tion. “Whenever we have a vote, we should vote ‘yes’ and we should vote ‘no,’” the New York Democrat said. “Voting ‘present’ is a very tough posi­tion to be in. To not take a stand in a moment that is so con­se­quen­tial, I think it’s quite dif­fi­cult.” Gabbard wasn’t the only House Democrat to take a posi­tion sep­a­rate from the par­ty line. Reps. Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey both vot­ed “no” on the arti­cles, while Jared Golden of Maine vot­ed “yes” on the abuse of pow­er arti­cle but “no” on the obstruc­tion of Congress arti­cle.
This arti­cle first appeared in the New York Post.