Rep. Adam Kinzinger says he regrets vote against first Trump impeachment

U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger said he regrets his vote against the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump in 2019.

In a series of three tweets Friday, Kinzinger, R-Channahon, admitted his reconsideration of that vote and tied it to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

“I want to be honest, in congress I have only a few votes that in hindset (sic), I regret,” he tweeted. “My biggest regret was voting against the first impeachment of Donald Trump.”

The Democratic majority in the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump in December of 2019 on two counts of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The action came after Trump attempted to withhold military aid from Ukraine in order to solicit an investigation of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election.

The Republican-controlled Senate eventually acquitted Trump on both counts in February 2020.

Kinzinger added that it was important for political leaders to be “transparent and admit regret when needed.”

“The bottom line, Donald Trump withheld lethal aid to Ukraine so he could use it as leverage for his campaign,” he said. “This is a shameful and illegal act, directly hurting the Ukraine defense today.”

Kinzinger also tweeted, “I wish i could go back in time and (vote) for it, but I cannot. What we can do now is to ensure that this NEVER happens again, and that we all put the interests of our nation above our party.”

The representative of the 16th District in Illinois has been pushing for the U.S. and its allies to do more to help Ukraine, including instituting a no-fly zone over the country. While many have feared such a move could escalate the war beyond Ukraine, Kinzinger said on MSNBC this week he admits that as time goes on, that will become more difficult to do as Russia sends more equipment in.

“I just worry, and I believe, that we’re going to end up in a point where we have to basically go toe-to-toe to some version with Russia anyway,” he said Monday. “Russia is the one, let’s be clear, they’re the ones escalating this fight. It’s not the United States.”

He also suggested the U.S. should provide the Ukrainian military with more weapons and training to combat Russian air strikes. U.S. officials fear Russian President Vladimir Putin will escalate the conflict, which has taken longer than he had anticipated.

Kinzinger has been critical of Biden and others for saying aloud that the U.S. will not fight a war against Russia in Ukraine.

“If you have no intention of putting troops on the ground in Ukraine, fine,” Kinzinger said Monday on MSNBC. “You don’t have to say it every 10 minutes, because all that does is give Vladimir Putin a target he can walk up to.”

More than 500 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and nearly 1,000 injured since the beginning of the invasion, and the death toll is rising, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. About 2.8 million refugees have fled the country since Feb. 24, according to the Global Conflict Tracker.