Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik of New York’s 21st district was in the national spotlight during the impeachment hearings when she challenged Intelligence Committee Chair Democrat Adam Schiff. The conservative base has been enamored with her steadfast support of President Donald Trump and insistence that the hearings have not produced evidence of impeachable offenses. She’s discussed her interchanges with the Democratic committee chair extensively during national interviews. Stefanik spoke this morning with WAMC’s North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley about the witness testimony. She says she prepared for the hearings by attending and reviewing the depositions.“I really based my questions off of that studying I did ahead of time. The American people did not read through every single word of the depositions. It was hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pages. And not all depositions had been made public. So I thought it was important to highlight some of the key statements that were made in the depositions. So you’ll notice in some of my questions I would say you testified and then I would quote them. But the overall themes of my questions were pretty consistent. It was focused on impeachment and direct evidence. But it was also focused on corruption issues in the Ukraine and the history of corruption issues in the Ukraine as well as potential conflicts of interests with Hunter Biden’s position on the board of Barisma and the Obama State Department’s concerns. So not all of my questions were yes or no but I tried to really show for the American people and this district all the information that was very important in those closed door depositions because this was the first time that people were seeing it in the open.”
Part Two with Congresswoman Elise Stefanik:
Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik represents New York’s sprawling 21st Congressional District, which stretches from the St. Lawrence River on the west to Lake Champlain in the east, the Quebec border to the north and south to Queensbury. Stefanik has been in the spotlight during the impeachment hearings and both she and her 2020 Democratic opponent have received a surge in campaign contributions in the wake of the televised proceedings. But it hasn’t come without controversy. George Conway, husband of White House advisor KellyAnne Conway and frequent foil to President Trump, donated to Stefanik’s Democratic opponent and called Stefanik “trash” on Twitter, helping the Congresswoman dubbed a “rising star” by President Trump trend as both supporters and opponents weighed in. In an interview today, Stefanik and WAMC North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley discussed the rhetoric of the race.Pat Bradley: As a result of the hearings, as you well know, both you and your Democratic challenger saw a surge of donations to your campaigns. You were able to make a lot of hay out of George Conway’s “trash” comments and his hashtag “TrashyStefanik.” But with that, would you also disavow President Trump’s name-calling? He called Adam Schiff “human scum” and things like that. Is it time to back off of all of those sorts of things?
Elise Stefanik: Well that’s certainly not the rhetoric that I use. And I’ve spoken out when I disagree with the president. But this is about impeachment, this is a constitutional matter. Certainly my opponent, who’s raised a million dollars off of “TrashyStefanik,” that’s despicable. She owns that. And it’s part of the far left Hollywood elites who are very out of touch with constituents in this district. And I have to tell you, I had some great events recently and we are getting huge support in the district. And the consistent theme that I continue to hear is that it’s shameful that my opponent has raised a million dollars by the Hollywood elites. She’s the toast of Tinseltown, but she’s woefully out of touch with constituents in this district. We are getting calls in our district offices, Pat, 3-to-1 in favor, and it’s the most positive calls that I’ve ever gotten since I was sworn into office. This has been overwhelming, the outpouring of support in the district.
The full interview is below:
