In the News

PITTSFIELD — The House's decision to seek impeachment charges against President Donald Trump was "the responsible thing to do," U.S. Rep. Richard Neal said Friday.

During a meeting with The Eagle's Editorial Board, the Springfield Democrat referred to the evidence against the president as "compelling," adding that it could not be ignored by the House.

"I think that you cannot avoid the evidence," Neal said.

Neal met with The Eagle on Friday afternoon as Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate was winding down. Neal said he never believed that the Republican-controlled Senate would vote to remove the president from office.

"I never believed that there were 19 senators on the Republican side that were going to convict," he said.

But, he said the phone call that Trump made to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy suggesting that he investigate political rival Joe Biden in exchange for releasing military aid to the country required the House to act in the way that it did.

"I think that once the Ukraine phone call was acknowledged, due diligence required that the House of Representatives do their work," Neal said.

He referred to the whistleblower who filed the complaint about Trump's phone call as "not someone with a score to settle."

"There were very responsible people, careerists," he said.

Neal also defended U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the lead prosecutor for the House Democrats who has been disparaged by the White House since the impeachment proceedings began.

"Adam Schiff, who I have known for a long time, is anything but a radical," Neal said. "He's very measured in his approach."

When asked if he believed Democrats effectively had conveyed their position on Trump's actions, Neal said: "I think we were able to get across the idea that he made the phone call and asked for the investigation of Biden."

He referred to polls that show that over 70 percent of Americans believe that witnesses should have been called to testify in Trump's Senate trial.

"The problem is, there's still that hardcore constituency in the Republican Party that believes he did something that was wrong, that it's impeachable as charged, but [he should] not be removed."

It was former House Speaker Sam Rayburn who summed up best the oversight role that Congress serves in regard to the president, Neal said.

"When Speaker Rayburn was asked how many presidents that he served under, he said, 'None. I served with four.' That's they key consideration here."