RICHMOND TIMES DISPATCH

Virginia Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, and Elaine Luria, D-2nd, on Monday called on Congress to investigate President Donald Trump over what they call “unprecedented allegations” related to a phone call between Trump and the president of Ukraine during which Trump allegedly urged the Ukrainian to investigate the son of former Vice President Joe Biden.

In a column published late Monday by The Washington Post, Spanberger and Luria joined five other freshman Democrats in saying that if the allegations against Trump are true, it would “represent an impeachable offense.”

“The president of the United States may have used his position to pressure a foreign country into investigating a political opponent, and he sought to use U.S. taxpayer dollars as leverage to do it,” the column says. “He allegedly sought to use the very security assistance dollars appropriated by Congress to create stability in the world, to help root out corruption and to protect our national security interests, for his own personal gain. These allegations are stunning, both in the national security threat they pose and the potential corruption they represent.”

The congressional Democrats continue:

“To uphold and defend our Constitution, Congress must determine whether the president was indeed willing to use his power and withhold security assistance funds to persuade a foreign country to assist him in an upcoming election.”

“If these allegations are true, we believe these actions represent an impeachable offense. We do not arrive at this conclusion lightly, and we call on our colleagues in Congress to consider the use of all congressional authorities available to us, including the power of ‘inherent contempt’ and impeachment hearings, to address these new allegations, find the truth and protect our national security.”

The others who signed on to the column are Reps. Gil Cisneros of California, Jason Crow of Colorado, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan.