Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said House Democrats are leading this country to a “civil war” if they get their wishes.
Gohmert, speaking on the House floor amid Thursday’s vote, said that the current efforts against President Donald Trump are unprecedented.
“Never in the history of this country have we had such gross unfairness that one party would put armed guards with guns to prevent the duly authorized people from being able to hear the witnesses and see them for themselves,” the congressman said.
He went on to warn about the potential of an armed conflict inside the United States.
“It’s about to push this country to a civil war if they were to get their wishes,” Gohmert said of the effort. “And if there’s one thing I don’t want to see in my lifetime, I don’t want to ever have participation in, it’s a civil war. Some historian, I don’t remember who, said, guns are only involved in the last phase of a civil war.”
Gohmert made the remarks after the House voted largely along party lines on a resolution into the impeachment inquiry against Trump.
The congressman, like other Republicans, said the current inquiry is one-sided and unconstitutional.
He said, “What’s gone on here is not protected the Constitution. It’s not protected the institutions. It’s not protected this little experiment in self-government. What it has done is put it all at risk.”
It was the formal test of support for the impeachment investigation, leading the Democratic-controlled House to vote almost entirely along party lines, 232 to 196, to move the probe forward in Congress.
The Democrats have accused Trump of abusing his office and jeopardizing national security for personal political gain. But they did not pick up a single Republican vote, while two Democrats voted against the impeachment resolution.
“It’s a sad day. No one comes to Congress to impeach a president,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said before the vote.
Top Republicans accused Democrats of using the impeachment process to overturn the results of President Trump’s 2016 victory.
“The Greatest Witch Hunt In American History!” Trump tweeted after the vote.
During a press conference after the vote was held, House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler declined to say when public hearings on impeachment would start, but he expected them to come in the next several weeks.
