Rep. Debbie Lesko of Arizona named to Trump’s impeachment team

PHOENIX — U.S. Rep. Debbie Lesko of Arizona says she is “honored” to be named one of the eight members of Congress who will serve on President Donald Trump’s impeachment team.

The Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee is joined by Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Rep. John Ratcliffe of Texas, Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, and Reps. Lee Zeldin and Elise Stefanik of New York.

Lesko said the White House contacted her and asked if she would be on the team.

“I think the president thought that I did a good job,” Lesko told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Tuesday morning.

I am honored to be named to President @realDonaldTrump’s Impeachment Team. Democrats are playing politics, and they are playing dirty. I will continue to fight against this corrupt & unfair process and look forward to assisting President Trump as a member of his Impeachment Team.

— Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (@RepDLesko) January 21, 2020

“When I saw him personally … he said, ‘Thank you, you’re doing a good job.'”

The announcement came on the eve of Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate.

Lesko has been a proponent of Trump during the impeachment process, calling it the “most unfair, politically biased railroad job in the history of the U.S.” after he became in December the third president in U.S. history to be impeached.

“I have said all along that I thought the procedure for impeachment in the House was totally unfair to the president,” Lesko told KTAR News.

“She’s been one of the most hardened supporters of the president and the names on that committee that I recognize are all of that character,” KTAR News political analyst Mike O’Neil said Monday night.

“I think this is the way for the president to give a pat on the back to the people who have been highly supportive of him.”

In a tweet on Dec. 27, Trump called Lesko “a great American!”

O’Neil said her role on the impeachment team appears largely symbolic, but it will probably work in her favor.

“[Lesko] is all in on the Trump camp, and in her district at the moment, that is probably a good thing,” he added. “She will probably benefit from it in November, at least in the current environment in that district.”

Lesko was sworn in to the House of Representatives in May 2018 after winning a special election and was re-elected to a full two-year term.

Prior to her time in Washington, Lesko served nine years in the Arizona Legislature, three of those in the Senate.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Julie Levin contributed to this report. 

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