BLOOMFIELD – Republican Justin Amash of Michigan wants to impeach Donald Trump, but Mikie Sherrill is not ready to go there.

Asked about impeachment after a town hall Sunday at a city elementary school, Sherrill said she still wants to see the un-redacted Mueller report and for Robert Mueller himself to testify before the House.

This is similar to what she said when the subject came up during last fall’s campaign. Interestingly, no one asked about impeachment during the congresswoman’s 90-minute session with 11th District constituents.

About 100 people attended. This was far less than the number who came to her first town hall a few months ago in Parsippany, but as Sherrill noted, Sunday’s pleasant weather was not conducive to an indoor event.

When the question-and-answer session ended, one man approached and asked her about impeachment. Amash, a libertarian, recently called for Trump’s impeachment,  becoming the first House Republican to do so.

Democrats are divided over impeaching Trump, which was reflected by Sherrill’s position, But she did say a “stalemate” was developing between the House’s quest for records and testimony and the
administration.

Bloomfield in the east end of the district is very much a Democratic oriented locale and the audience reflected that. Most were supportive of Sherrill with some thanking her for holding a town hall. It was the refusal of her predecessor, Rodney Frelinghuysen, to hold town halls that helped fuel Democratic activism in the district.

Still, there were some provocative questions.

One man said American sovereignty is being threatened by uncontrolled immigration and wanted the congresswoman’s thoughts about that.

Sherrill said this shows the need for immigration reform, which has bedeviled Congress for years. Contending that recent immigrant waves are caused by turmoil in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, Sherrill said more aid to those nations is needed.

The questioner shouted back that we won’t have any success “nation building.” Sherrill said aid would not be meant to nation build, but to stop the “gang violence.”

She contended that unlike past years when many immigrants were young men from Mexico, we are now seeing more families from Central American countries.

While foreign policy is not always a popular theme at town halls, there was a question about Iran from a woman who said she feared the president was bent on starting a war.

Sherrill said – hopefully perhaps – that she doesn’t think Trump wants a war. She said the problem is that the United States has split with its traditional allies over Iran.

The Trump administration pulled out of an Obama-era agreement to curtail Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but such U.S. allies as England, France and Germany still support it.

Sherrill said the lack of diplomatic contact between the U.S. and Iran can cause problems. For instance, she said Iran’s recent actions, while not necessarily menacing, can be used by the administration as a
“precursor for conflict.”

The congresswoman mentioned the cold war, suggesting that diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union prevented minor misunderstandings from escalating.

Speaking of Russia, Sherrill said she worries that the administration is not doing enough to protect the integrity of the 2020 vote from the type of Russian mischief we saw in 2016. With no initiative coming
from the White House, she said the job falls to Congress.