Station:    KOA, 850 am

Show:       Colorado’s Morning Show

Guests:    Gardner, Cory

Link:        https://koacolorado.iheart.com/featured/colorado-s-morning-news/content/2020-02-06-cory-gardner-talks-impeachment-whats-next/

Date:       February 6, 2020

Topics:     Impeachment, Two Articles of Impeachment, Remove a Duly Elected President, High Burden, Evidence, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Partisan Politics, Partisan Impeachment, Founders, Framers, House of Representative, Nullify 2016 and 2020 Election, Investigate How Taxpayer Dollars are Spent, Ukraine, Vice President Biden, President Obama, Arkansas Valley Conduit, Clean Drinking Water, Southeastern Colorado, John F. Kennedy, U.S. Space Command, Colorado Springs, Bureau of Land Management, Grand Junction, China, Corona Virus, Fort Carson, Quarantine, CDC, Center for Disease Control, SARS Communist Party, Wage Growth, Four Corners, Unemployment, Creating Jobs

Click Here for Audio

HOST MARTY LENZ [00:00:00]  In the end, President Trump was acquitted on both articles of impeachment and now Congress has its job of getting back to work on legislation, all during an election year.

HOST APRIL ZESBAUGH [00:00:12] Let’s talk about all of it with our next guest, Senator Cory Gardner, on the live line. Good morning, Senator. Thanks for coming on.

U.S. SENATOR FROM COLORADO, CORY GARDNER [00:00:18] Good morning. Thanks for having me.

ZESBAUGH [00:00:20] So tell us — explain your votes on those two articles of impeachment. Why did you vote the way you did?

GARDNER [00:00:24] Well, there is an incredibly high bar to remove a president of the United States –duly elected president of the United States — for the first time in our country’s history. And that bar was not met. And it takes a high burden, and they did not to preseng that evidence.

LENZ [00:00:38] Senator, some have said that because you’re in an election year, that you’re playing it safe and it was calculated to make that vote the way you did it. What do you say to that?

GARDNER [00:00:45] Look, I politics didn’t enter this discussion, or this decision. In fact, I think Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi did try to make it about politics. They thought this was going to hurt the Senate and maybe help them take the majority. I viewed this through the lens of the American people and what it does to them. Our framers, our founders were very worried about a partisan impeachment, that a partisan driven impeachment could tear apart this country. That’s exactly what we saw out of the House of Representatives. And that was just one more reason why we shouldn’t remove — just nine months before an election, nullifying a 2016 election and 2020 election, for the first time in our country’s history — a duly elected president.

ZESBAUGH [00:01:18] Looking back, though, was the president wrong in pressuring Ukraine to investigate a political rival? Would you have voted, let’s say, to censure him instead?

GARDNER [00:01:27] Well, the question before the Senate was whether or not our government — we have the ability to investigate how our taxpayer dollars are being spent. That was the issue. We have to be able to figure out if they’re being spent wisely, if there’s corruption involved. And that’s exactly the issue before the Senate.

LENZ [00:01:40] At least that very much — I wonder if you’re taking the tact of Lamar Alexander or Susan Collins, where they said what he did was wrong, but it wasn’t impeachable. Do you at least think what he did was wrong?

GARDNER [00:01:49] Well, look, we have to be able to make sure that the 400 million dollars — almost 4 million dollars that we sent to Ukraine — was being spent appropriately and wisely. The reason why Vice President Biden was sent to Ukraine by President Obama was to look into the corruption concerns there. So this is a longtime concern with Ukraine, and we have to have an ability to be able to investigate this.

ZESBAUGH [00:02:10] Romney voted with the Democrats on one of those articles of impeachment. [What are] your thoughts on his vote?

GARDNER [00:02:15] Look, every member is going to reach their own conclusion through the process that they approach the case with. And so, you know, he reached a different conclusion than I did. And what we have to do is move forward, though. I think the challenge for Congress now is putting this behind us, getting away from these partisan factions that drove this this impeachment and start accomplishing things for the people of Colorado. You know, two days ago, I announced 28 million dollars for the Arkansas Valley conduit, which would provide drinking water to 50,000 people in southeastern Colorado. This is a project authorized by John F. Kennedy, and finally under construction now. We’ve got U.S. Space Command open and operating in Colorado Springs. We’ve got the Bureau of Land Management headquarters in Grand Junction, Colorado. We have to come together as a country to continue accomplishing things for the people and not just the partisan warfare in Washington.

LENZ [00:03:01] Now, you’re in the Springs today. You’re here to talk about the Corona virus. What are you going to talk about? And are you concerned that China’s doing enough on their end to to curtail it?

GARDNER [00:03:10] Well, I’m concerned about the data that we’re getting from China. I’m concerned that they’re maybe not telling us the truth of what’s happening or the severity of what’s happening in China. I am in Colorado Springs. I’ll be heading over to Fort Carson to talk to the base and the command about some of the — perhaps people from Wuhan who may be quarantined at Fort Carson — the facility there — trying to understand what exactly they’ll be doing, how they’ll make sure that we have a safe containment. And I am concerned about what the response has been. So, I was — during the middle of the impeachment trial — demanding a briefing by the CDC and others on the Corona virus. We were able to receive that several weeks ago. It’s incredibly important that we do not allow this to spread and that we find the answers that we need. Look, the Communist Party of China, we saw what happened during SARS. And I hope they’re not doing that again.

ZESBAUGH [00:04:00] Before we run, this is — now that the impeachment process is over for you, how goes your Senate campaign? Does it really kick off now for you? Are we going to start seeing a bunch of ads?

GARDNER [00:04:10] Well, look, we’re going to be all over the state of Colorado, as we have been for the past several year, and talking about the things that we have done for all four corners of our state. You know, whether it’s $300 million in transportation funding to expand I-25 north and south, like I said, providing 50,000 people with safe drinking water, moving the Bureau of Land Management headquarters to to Grand Junction, opening up U.S. Space Command in Colorado, we have a 2.5 percent unemployment rate in the states, the lowest in the history of our state. So, you know, we have an economy that’s creating jobs, increasing wages, and we need to make sure that all four corners of our state are being lifted up.

LENZ [00:04:45] It’s good to talk with you, Senator. Thank you for coming on. We appreciate it.

GARDNER [00:04:48] Hey, thanks for having me. Thanks.