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WASHINGTON
(AP) — A House freshman from New Jersey who was planning to break with
his party and vote against impeaching President Donald Trump will become
a Republican, a GOP official said Saturday.
Top
House Republicans have been told of Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s decision,
according to a GOP official familiar with the conversations. The
lawmaker had discussed switching parties in a meeting with Trump at the
White House on Friday, an administration official said Saturday.
Van
Drew’s decision underscores the pressures facing moderate Democrats
from Trump-leaning districts as next week’s impeachment vote approaches.
Van Drew won his southern New Jersey district by 8 percentage points
last year, but Trump carried it by 5 points in 2016 and Van Drew was
considered one of the more vulnerable House Democrats going into next
November’s congressional elections.
There
are 31 House Democrats who represent districts Trump carried in the
2016 election, and many of them have been nervous about the political
repercussions they would face by voting to impeach Trump. The House
Republican campaign committee has already run ads targeting many of
them, but most are expected to support Trump’s impeachment.
A
senior Democratic aide said Van Drew had not notified House Democratic
leaders about his decision. All the aides spoke on condition of
anonymity to describe private conversations.
The
senior Democratic aide provided what was described as a poll conducted
earlier this month by Van Drew’s campaign showing that by more than a
2-1 margin, people in his district would prefer a different candidate
than Van Drew in the Democratic primary and general election.
Rumors
surfaced last week that Van Drew might switch parties, and he
repeatedly denied them to reporters. But he reaffirmed his plan to
oppose impeachment, barring new evidence.
``It
doesn’t mean that I agree with everything the president may have said
or done. It means that I don’t believe that these are impeachable
offenses,`` he said in an interview Thursday.
Van Drew and a spokesperson did not answer their cellphones or return text messages on Saturday.
Trump put out a congratulatory tweet early Sunday. “Thank you for your
honesty Jeff. All of the Democrats know you are right, but unlike you,
they don’t have the “guts” to say so!”
Even
with his defection, there remains no doubt that the
Democratic-controlled House will vote to impeach Trump on a near
party-line vote.
Democrats
will still control the chamber by 232-198, plus an independent and four
vacancies. Until now, Van Drew and Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota
were the only Democrats expected to vote against impeachment, with
perhaps a small handful of others joining them. House Republicans seem
on track to oppose impeachment unanimously.
Van
Drew was a longtime state senator. His congressional district had been
under Republican control for nearly two decades before he was elected.
The
House is set to approve two articles of impeachment against Trump this
coming week. Democrats, who hold the majority, expect support from all
but a few of their members. No Republicans are expected to join them.
The Republican-controlled Senate is then all but certain to acquit Trump after a trial in January.
Van
Drew has argued that the process is likely just to further divide the
country and it would be better to let voters decide Trump’s fate in next
year’s election.
In
the first article of impeachment, Trump is accused of abusing his
presidential power by asking Ukraine to investigate his 2020 rival Joe
Biden while holding military aid as leverage. In the second article,
he’s accused of obstructing Congress by blocking the House’s efforts to
investigate his actions.
___
Associated Press writer Jonathan Lemire contributed to this story.
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