( VPM intern Patrick Larsen reported this story.)
Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger continues to have a reserved position on impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump after joining calls from Democrats for an inquiry into whistleblower allegations last week.
At an event in Richmond, Spanberger insisted that it’s too early to schedule a vote in the House based on the allegations.
“If they are true, we need to prove them true and take the next steps,” Spanberger said. “If they are false, we should want to know without a shadow of a doubt that they are false.”
Spanberger published an op-ed with six other freshman Democratic representatives last Monday. They demanded an investigation, citing impeachment as a possible consequence of an inquiry.
Many of those Democrats occupy contentious seats. Spanberger’s district voted for Trump in 2016.
Some of Spanberger’s Republican opponents have accused her of trying to walk back her position because she’s up for reelection next year.
In an email blast Monday, a spokesperson for the Congressional Leadership Foundation, a Republican Super PAC, said that Spanberger’s op-ed was an endorsement of impeachment.
“Spanberger leaped out the gate to appease her socialist buddies and their insatiable obsession with impeaching the President,” said spokesman Calvin Moore. “and no amount of backpaddling [sic] will be enough to erase that from voter’s minds.”
Spanberger said she’s never called for impeachment outright.
“I don’t think we should move to articles of impeachment yet. I do not think that,” she said.
Instead, Spanberger said she thinks her message is one of due process and oversight, something she says all Congressmembers can and should get behind.