U.S. Rep. Max Rose (D-South Brooklyn, Staten Island), who increasingly finds himself in a thorny political situation, today announced he supports the ongoing impeachment inquiry into allegations that President Donald Trump is using his office to press foreign governments to provide information on his political adversaries.
Specifically, Trump allegedly pressed Ukraine to further investigate Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden, who as vice president under the Obama Administration, saw his son, Hunter Biden, get a lucrative position on the board of a Ukrainian utility company.
“So while the President of the United States may be willing to violate the constitution to get re-elected, I will not,” Rose said at a Staten Island Town Hall. “I will not shirk my duty and I will not violate my oath. I will support and I will defend the United States Constitution. And it is for that reason that I intend to fully support this impeachment inquiry and follow the facts.
“We have got to follow these facts where they lead us—and where we find ourselves today the President has no one to blame but himself. Today, there are soldiers throughout the world putting their life on the line—Afghanistan, Iraq, so many other nations. I was just one of them eight years ago and some of my buddies are still amongst them. There’s no way with them in mind that we can let any type of corruption stand,” he added.
Rose’s decision to support the impeachment inquiry comes a day after the SILive.com reported that Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) member Richard-Olivier Marius, 29, will challenge Rose in next year’s Democratic primary.
It also comes as the DSA, an extreme left branch of the Democratic Party, continues to gain power with mainstream centrist Democrats such as Rose. However, unlike extreme progressives/socialists like U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Queens, Bronx), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib, (D-Mich), Rose is in a battleground district, where Republicans and Democrats do battle over ideas more than ideology.
The district, which Trump carried in the last presidential election, includes small business owners, a solid middle class, cops, firefighters, teachers and sanitation workers – more of a microcosm of the greater American mainstream.
Nationally, this is a worry among centrists Democrats, who fear the progressives’ strong influence could undo the recent midterm federal elections where the Dems regained control of the House.
And Rose’s likely Republican opponent in next year’s general election, Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis (Bay Ridge, Staten Island) quickly pounced on Rose’s announcement to back the impeachment inquiry, which thus far has been drawn along partisan lines.
“Just one day after finding out he had a challenger in the Democrat primary, Congressman Max Rose caved to socialists Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Nancy Pelosi in the rush to impeach President Donald Trump. It just shows that when pressure is applied, Max Rose stands with the radical left instead of the majority of his constituents,” said Malliotakis.
