Republican Crenshaw Labeled A ‘Coward’: Trump Impeachment Vote Stirs Strong Reactions

Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw is being heavily criticized for voting no to President Trump's impeachment by proxy on Wednesday after the repeated condemnation of no-show votes last year.

Crenshaw was among a handful of Republicans who voted against a second impeachment for Trump, who faced charges in the House of Representatives of inciting insurrection in the storming of the Capitol building in Washington D.C. last week.

Crenshaw's decision to vote by proxy stemmed from his concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. The move, however, goes against his statements in 2020 opposing such a vote.

The Dallas Morning News reports that Crenshaw posted statements on Twitter and Facebook on separate occasions criticizing a vote by proxy.

“American is looking to its representatives to act like LEADERS with courage, not spineless sheep in hiding,” a Facebook post from April read. “We ask our grocers to work, our truckers to drive, and our nurses to risk their lives. Congress can show up to VOTE,” he added.

This contradiction has sparked outrage in the court of public opinion.

House Resolution 965, passed in May, allows lawmakers to designate another member to cast ballots on their behalf, citing the “public health emergency due to a novel coronavirus.” Several lawmakers in the House on Wednesday cast ballots by proxy for at least one other member.

Crenshaw, in a statement signed by fellow reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina, and John Curtis, R-Utah, said they were concerned by the president’s actions, but impeachment would only further divide the country.

“Voting to impeach the President seven days before his departure from office serves little purpose given the Senate will not be able to hold a trial by that time and risks establishing this impeachment as politically motivated,” the statement read. “Furthermore, the articles are flawed, charging crimes that are lacking the requisite element of intent. For these reasons and others, we will not be voting for these articles of impeachment despite our strong belief the President’s actions were wrong."

The House voted 232-to-197 in favor of the second article of impeachment. Ten Republicans crossed party lines to vote yes; David Valadao of California, Dan Newhouse of Washington, John Katko of New York, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Fred Upton of Michigan, Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Peter Meijer of Michigan, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio and Tom Rice of South Carolina.

Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, was among the more vocal supporters of impeachment.

“The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack,” she said earlier this week. “Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the president.”

Trump made history Wednesday by becoming the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice.