BRIGID HARRISON CALLS FOR VAN DREW’S RESIGNATION 

[January 27, 2020 – Longport, New Jersey] – As first reported in the New York Times on Sunday, an unpublished manuscript by former National Security Adviser John R. Bolton confirmed that President Trump directly told Bolton in August that Trump planned to freeze $391 million in security assistance to the country of Ukraine until officials helped with investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens.

The following is a statement from Brigid Callahan Harrison, Democratic candidate for New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District:

“I began this campaign to challenge Jeff Van Drew for one reason – because he put his self-interest ahead of the people of the 2nd Congressional District.  This issue has now become far deeper and more serious than the self interest of a career politician.

“Van Drew chose to violate the trust of those who voted for him, including me.  He ignored the voices of New Jersey’s second congressional district, the progressives, moderates, and independents who united to get him elected.  He then accepted a backroom Trump handshake that has already brought him hundreds of thousands of dollars of support.

“But with the recent revelations by John Bolton, it is now clear that this issue is far more severe.

“Van Drew chose to obstruct Congress’s rightful authority to investigate very serious allegations and assisted in withholding crucial information related to the 2020 election, and with Mr. Bolton’s account, there is now a clear smoking gun.

“These actions are no longer just disgraceful or disrespectful or based on self-interest, they have now evolved to the point that Van Drew clearly helped conspire to help Trump get away with a crime.

“I was the first to publicly suggest that Van Drew deserved a primary challenge for his actions, and now it is clear, with this breaking and developing information, it is time for him to step aside and resign.

“Oligarchies are created when citizens are denied access to information – the very tactic that Van Drew sought to use to enable President Trump to use the federal government to influence the outcome of the 2020 election.  Van Drew has not only been a pawn to Donald Trump but is now a clear co-conspirator to a crime and can no longer serve our community effectively.”