一位前共和党长期参议员说，他的政党成员拒绝面对唐纳德·特朗普总统因“动摇”乌克兰而应被弹劾的事实，从而背叛了国家和宪法。
从1981年到1987年和1989年到2001年代表华盛顿州的斯莱德·戈登描述了他在1974年3月不情愿地与共和党和总统决裂，当时他在水门事件中要求理查德·尼克松辞职。高尔顿在比较两个弹劾程序时引用了约翰·亚当斯著名的“事实是顽固的东西”这句格言，他警告今天的共和党不要把乌克兰的调查说成是“党派政治迫害”
这位前参议员在周一的报纸上写了一篇专栏文章纽约时报，标题为”我的共和党同胞们，请遵循事实，“这促使共和党人将真相置于他们的政党之上。
戈登挑战众议院和参议院的共和党人“与手头的事实搏斗”，而不是躲在“深层国家”阴谋论背后。他对像德文·努内斯和吉姆·乔丹这样的共和党国会议员表示羞愧，因为他们“试图找到一些理由来谴责每一个挺身而出的证人，从授勋老兵到特朗普的超级捐助者。”
这位现年91岁的前参议员表示，涉及特朗普、他的律师鲁迪·朱利安尼和几名政府官员的乌克兰丑闻是一个明确的案件，需要弹劾。
戈尔顿写道:“很明显，乌克兰总统沃洛季米尔·泽兰斯基受到了一场大洗牌——被迫成为特朗普总统连任竞选的外国参与者，这是违反法律的。”。他后来引用了亚历山大·汉密尔顿的《联邦党人文件》，其中表达了开国元勋的害怕总统有一天会为了个人利益背叛国家利益。
前共和党参议员斯莱德·戈尔顿表示，众议院和参议院的共和党人在考虑弹劾唐纳德·特朗普总统时，都需要“与手头的事实搏斗”，而不是躲在“深层国家”阴谋论背后。
高尔顿写道，汉密尔顿警告说，“一个贪婪的人可能会被诱惑背叛国家利益去获取财富”，一个总统可能会“借助外国势力，以背叛他的选民为代价来强化自己的权力。”
戈登一再强调，在20世纪70年代，无论是在政治层面——尼克松轻松赢得华盛顿州——还是在个人层面，与共和党或总统分道扬镳都是不愉快的，因为此举考验了他对保守派同事的忠诚。但是高尔顿重申弹劾的目的至少是为了观察事实，而不是躲避事实。
“几个可信的证人已经证明存在交换条件，包括代理驻乌克兰大使小威廉·泰勒；亚历山大·温德曼中校，白宫乌克兰问题最高专家；戈登·桑德兰，”戈登写道。他们值得相信吗？我的底线是:这就是弹劾调查和参议院审判的目的。这就是为什么宪法下有一个程序。"
几位前国会共和党议员谴责特朗普，呼吁回归保守价值观或正常状态。佛罗里达州前众议员大卫·乔利最近出现论MSNBC截止日期:白宫宣称今天的共和党人缺乏“人性的完整性”和“没有美德”
FORMER GOP SENATOR WHO CALLED FOR NIXON'S RESIGNATION SAYS TRUMP SHOULD BE IMPEACHED
A former longtime GOP senator said members of his party are betraying the country and the Constitution by refusing to confront the fact that President Donald Trump should be impeached for "shaking down" Ukraine.
Slade Gorton, who represented Washington state from 1981 through 1987 and 1989 through 2001, described reluctantly breaking with the Republican Party and the president in March 1974, when he called for Richard Nixon's resignation amid the Watergate scandal. Gorton quoted John Adams' famous "Facts are stubborn things" maxim in comparing the two impeachment processes, and he warned today's GOP against writing off the Ukraine investigation as a "partisan witch hunt."
The ex-senator penned an op-ed in Monday's New York Times, titled "My Fellow Republicans, Please Follow the Facts," that urges Republicans to put the truth over their party.
Gorton challenged Republicans in both the House and the Senate to "wrestle with the facts at hand" instead of hiding behind "deep state" conspiracy theories. He expressed his shame at Republican congressmen like Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan as they "try to find some reason to denounce every witness who steps forward, from decorated veterans to Trump megadonors."
According to the former senator, now 91, the Ukraine scandal involving Trump, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and several administration officials is a clear-cut case that demands impeachment.
"It seems clear that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine was subjected to a shakedown—pressured to become a foreign participant in President Trump's re-election campaign, a violation of the law," Gorton wrote. He later cites Alexander Hamilton's Federalist Papers, which express the Founding Father's fear that a president could one day betray the interests of the country for his personal benefit.
Former GOP Senator Slade Gorton says Republicans in both the House and the Senate need to "wrestle with the facts at hand" instead of hiding behind "deep state" conspiracy theories when considering an impeachment of President Donald Trump.
Hamilton, Gorton wrote, warned that "an avaricious man might be tempted to betray the interests of the state to the acquisition of wealth" and that a president might "make his own aggrandizement, by the aid of a foreign power, the price of his treachery to his constituents."
Gorton repeatedly stressed it was not pleasant to part ways with the Republican Party or the president in the 1970s, on both a political level—Nixon easily won Washington state—and on a personal one, given that the move tested his loyalty to his conservative colleagues. But Gorton reiterated that the purpose of impeachment is, at the very least, to view the facts and not to hide from them.
"Several credible witnesses have testified to the existence of a quid pro quo, including William B. Taylor Jr., the acting ambassador to Ukraine; Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the White House's top Ukraine expert; and [EU ambassador] Gordon Sondland," Gorton wrote. Are they to be believed? Here's my bottom line: That's what an impeachment inquiry and a Senate trial are designed to find out. That's why there's a process under the Constitution."
Several former Republican members of Congress have denounced Trump and called for a return to conservative values or normalcy. Ex-Representative David Jolly of Florida recently appeared on MSNBC's Deadline: White House to declare that today's Republicans are lacking in "human integrity" and are "without virtue."
