Democratic Congressional candidate William Hanson: Trump has ‘absolutely’ committed impeachable offense

Fourth District Democratic Congressional candidate William Hanson says there’s no doubt in his mind that President Donald Trump has committed an impeachable offense and he contends that moving forward on impeachment is the only way to hold this particular president accountable.

“Election laws prohibit a person from receiving a gift, donation, or something of value from a foreign national, and it also prohibits a person from soliciting something of value. I think the president has certainly done that,” said Hanson, a lawyer and educator who has returned to Camden after a decades-long career in California.

“He [Trump] did it in the open when he asked China to investigate. Some people might wonder, is an investigation something of value? I only point back to the 2016 election when Director Comey introduced that new investigation of Senator Clinton and I do believe it impacted her chances of being president. So I think he really wants to try to repress votes or get people to worry about Vice-president Biden. So, I do believe that he has committed an impeachable offense,” said Hanson, who appeared on this week’s edition of Talk Business & Politics.

Trump has come under fire with Congress opening an impeachment inquiry over his dealings with the new Ukranian President whom he asked to look into corruption involving Democratic Presidential hopeful Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.

Hanson is challenging U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs, who is seeking re-election. Raymond Dallas Redmond, Jr. of Rison, Arkansas has also filed a Federal Election Commission statement of candidacy for Congress as a Democrat.

Hanson said that Trump and his administration’s unwillingness to cooperate with current and previous Congressional oversight suggests that formal impeachment should happen quickly.

“I think we’re going to have to just go vote, have a vote for impeachment. Now, I understand the purpose of having an impeachment inquiry, because you should proceed with all the information that you can get, but I don’t think that the administration is going to be cooperative there. They’ve been obstructing for the last two to three years and I don’t see that changing. I think they are trying to run out the clock, trying to get Democrats to go to court, which will take a long time and so by them obstructing, they should just add that as an another impeachment article,” he said.

When asked about President Trump’s defense that he should be working with foreign countries – such as Ukraine and China – to curtail corruption, Hanson said the president hasn’t acted previously on that front unless it benefits his political standing.

“It’s nonsensical when the president says that,” Hanson said. “He didn’t want to end corruption in North Carolina voting practices. He didn’t want to end corruption in a wide variety of things here domestically. I don’t believe that. That’s just him talking.”

“But he’s not just trying to end corruption, he’s identifying one particular person that he wants the Ukraine and China to target – Vice President Joe Biden and his son. If he wanted to end corruption writ large, he perhaps would do it in Saudi Arabia. Perhaps he would do it in other places where he has friends. So he’s not serious. That’s the president just throwing something against the wall trying to deflect and delay,” Hanson added.

Hanson entered the Congressional race in early September. He said that he initially wanted to work to increase voter participation on a non-partisan basis. That would require having candidates to stir political contests and activity. When he was unconvinced that anyone with credibility might run for Congress on the Democratic side, Hanson said he decided he should step up.

“I grew up in Arkansas. My family’s been here for over 150 years. I’d been away in California,” he said. “I was trying to find someone to want to run, because you can’t do effective, nonpartisan voter mobilization unless you’ve got a good candidate or good issue. After about six months and I couldn’t find any takers, it dawned on me that I was asking people to do something that I’d seem unwilling to do myself.”

You can watch Hanson’s full interview below.