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North Dakota congressional delegation criticizes launch of impeachment inquiry

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President Donald Trump disembarks Air Force One at Hector International Airport in Fargo, N.D., June 27, 2018. Trump was en route to a campaign event in support of Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who is hoping to unseat the incumbent Democratic senator, Heidi Heitkamp. (Tom Brenner/The New York Times) President Donald Trump disembarks Air Force One at Hector International Airport in Fargo, N.D., TOM BRENNER

BISMARCK — Members of North Dakota's all-Republican congressional delegation criticized House Democrats' plans to launch a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump on Tuesday, Sept. 24.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made the announcement amid allegations Trump abused his power by pressuring the head of a foreign government to investigate a political rival. Trump allegedly asked his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democrat seeking to unseat Trump next year, and his son, but Trump denied that there was any "quid pro quo," according to the Washington Post.

Still, Pelosi said Trump had betrayed his oath of office and the country's security.

"The president must be held accountable," she said in televised remarks announcing the impeachment inquiry. "No one is above the law."

In North Dakota, which Trump won easily in 2016, Republican lawmakers ripped the move as a distraction from other matters.

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Sen. Kevin Cramer, a close Trump ally, called Pelosi's decision "ridiculous."

"Speaker Pelosi’s actions are political theater and a clear sign she’s either losing it herself or caving to the extreme voices in her caucus," he said in a statement. "This is not what North Dakotans or the American people care about.”

Sen. John Hoeven said the House should be focused on "governing and moving forward important priorities," like a revamped North American trade deal. He said Trump's planned release of the transcript of his call with the Ukrainian president will "allow us to get the facts."

Rep. Kelly Armstrong, a member of the House Judiciary Committee that has been on the frontlines of Trump inquiries, also welcomed the transcript's planned release.

"The frenzied pace towards condemnation and impeachment ignores the fact that we haven’t seen or processed a single fact or witness," he said in a statement as news reports indicated impeachment proceedings were on the horizon. "The impeachment narrative shouldn’t drive this. The facts should, and we haven’t seen any yet.”

Before Pelosi's announcement, Cramer said he was reserving judgment on Trump's actions in the Ukrainian affair but said he wasn't "overly concerned about it based on anything we know at this point." As for whether the administration should provide Congress with a whistleblower complaint about the president, Cramer said he was worried about setting a bad precedent.

"Our president should be able to have frank and classified conversations with other world leaders without members of the opposite political party feeling entitled to every word both parties say," Cramer said in a written statement.

Still, the Republican-controlled Senate passed a nonbinding resolution demanding the Trump administration provide lawmakers with a copy of the complaint, according to the Associated Press.

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