As your United States Representative, I am facing my most difficult issue ever: the potential impeachment of the President. I want to stay in very close touch with you on this critical matter for our country, and so am updating you on the current U.S. House inquiry and asking for your current thoughts in this anonymous survey (click here).

I truly regret that we are seriously considering impeachment of our President for only the fourth time in our history. But we must decide what our Constitution requires of not only today’s President and Congress but those of our future.

Under our Constitution, impeachment means a majority vote in the U.S. House of Representatives after an inquiry to approve specific articles of impeachment charging the President with actions justifying removal from office. The House vote is not to remove the President. The U.S. Senate must then conduct a trial on the articles. If at least two-thirds of the Senators then agree with the articles, the President is removed from office.

The House has been in the first stage of this four-stage process, the impeachment inquiry, since late September. In late October the House passed H.Res. 660, which confirmed a formal process with stronger rules for transparency, inclusion and due process than followed in the Nixon and Clinton impeachments. Under that resolution, the House committees now conducting the inquiry have begun releasing transcripts of earlier interviews with administration and other witnesses and conducting public hearings. At some point soon those committees will refer their findings to the Judiciary Committee, which will decide whether to refer specific proposed articles of impeachment to the full House for a vote.

I did not earlier favor a formal impeachment inquiry because I believed that (1) we did not have sufficient information to launch that process and (2) even very strong policy and political differences are not grounds for impeachment. However, the disclosures beginning in late September with [the whistleblower’s complaint] of the President’s actions on Ukraine raise very serious questions that I concluded Congress, as a separate, independent and co-equal branch of government, must review toward possible impeachment.

Those questions are:

1.  Did the President ask a foreign leader to investigate his domestic political rival (Mr. Biden) for the purpose of influencing a domestic political campaign (the 2020 Presidential election)?
2. Did the President withhold foreign aid and other assistance for the purpose of forcing the foreign leader to comply with his request for an investigation?
3. Did the President attempt to obstruct or otherwise interfere with a lawful whistleblower process?
4. Did the President obstruct Congress’ constitutional duty to review these matters?

I believe that if the answer to these questions is yes, this matter would constitute a betrayal of our Constitution, abuse of power, interference with free elections and national security risk, justifying the House in approving articles of impeachment for a Senate trial. I further believe that should be true of any President, and that to conclude otherwise would ignore my own duties under our Constitution and create a highly dangerous precedent for future Presidents and Congresses. I have thus supported the current impeachment inquiry, though I believe it is my responsibility to reserve decision on any vote until it is fairly concluded.

Again, I want and need to hear from you throughout this very difficult process. Can you help me today by CLICKING HERE TO TAKE A QUICK SURVEY ON IMPEACHMENT?

This survey is completely anonymous. It is not part of this email and we are not tracking any responses back to your address. There are comment boxes for any additional thoughts. But again, the survey is not part of this email and we won’t know who commented. So if you’d like also to hear back from me directly, please email me separately at ed.case@mail.house.gov.

I am deeply grateful for your guidance, and assure you that in addition to this critical matter I remain focused on forging that better way forward for your country we all seek as well as helping our Hawai’i and you and yours whenever and however I can.