MAINE, USA — In an op-ed in Newsweek magazine, Senator Angus King (I-Maine) criticizes President Trump's reaction to whistleblowers' complaints which led to the investigation focused on Trump's effort to push Ukraine to investigate his Democratic political opponents by withholding military aid and an Oval Office meeting desired by the new Ukrainian president.
The op-ed reads:
'From the moment news broke that President Donald Trump was accused of misusing his office for political gain, the president and elected officials who support him have sought to discredit the whistleblower as everything from a partisan hack peddling hearsay to a treasonous enemy of the state with an ax to grind,' Sen. King writes.
The Independent Senator writes that Trump has the right to defend himself but that his attempts to discredit or name the whistleblower is "dangerous" and could lead to future abuses of power by federal officials.
'So, as the very idea of whistleblowing comes under attack, I think we would benefit from revisiting our nation's history of protecting those who speak truth to the highest levels of power—protections that date back to our nation's founding.'
Sen. King has supported the investigation into President Trump. He said in September, "We cannot allow any president to subvert the highest office in the land in order to increase his or her chances of keeping it."
Democratic representatives from Maine, Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden, voted to formalize the procedure for President Donald Trump's impeachment inquiry on October 31.
Democrats pushed a package of ground rules toward certain House passage as the chamber neared the first formal vote on a historic clash that could well stretch into next year.
The rules were passed with 231 yeas from House Representatives and 196 nays.