WEST LEBANON — Republican presidential contender Bill Weld again called for President Donald Trump’s impeachment and removal from office as the House began formal impeachment hearings Wednesday.
“He may or may not be a Russian agent, but he might as well be,” Weld, a former two-term governor of Massachusetts, said in a meeting with Valley News editors and reporters. “Almost everything he’s done has favored the Russian side of things.”
The recent withdrawal of troops from northern Syria and private meetings with Russian officials are just two examples of the president aiding Russian foreign relations, Weld said in a wide-ranging interview.
While he believes Trump deserves to be impeached for his conduct in tying aid to Ukraine to an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Weld said voters have been subjected to a “constant pounding” of news on the matter and would rather be discussing policies that affect them personally.
“People are all exhausted all around the country,” Weld said. “They don’t mind talking about health care but be damned if they’re going to talk about impeachment.”
Speaking on health care, Weld said he hopes to maintain the Affordable Care Act, which is often referred to as “Obamacare.” The 2010 health care overhaul is responsible for adding 20 million Americans to insurance rolls but does require minor changes, he said.
“I like that a lot. I’m not going to try to repeal that,” Weld said, referring to Republican attempts to roll back the law. “I do think that you can take some of the government decision-making out of the act.”
The changes he would make include allowing more people to establish health savings accounts, which would let them save tax-free for future health expenditures.
The 74-year-old Weld, who was a top official in the Justice Department during the Reagan administration, said he also would work to reduce health care costs by reining in pharmaceutical companies. Medicare should be allowed to negotiate drug prices, and people should be allowed to shop for cheaper drugs abroad, he said.
“Big pharma has flunked the test so dramatically about ‘Why are you charging three times as much for this pharmacological product as you do in Germany?’ ” Weld said.
Weld, who was known during his tenure as governor for measures to protect the environment, said he would continue that trend in the White House.
He would recommit America to the Paris Agreement, which the Trump administration opposes, and would impose what he called a “fee” on carbon emissions, asserting that it should not be considered a tax because the revenue would either be returned to taxpayers or directed to low-income families.
“I now am worried about income inequality,” Weld said, of the possible aid, adding he also is mulling a 15% tax cut for the bottom 20% of earners.
Campaign finance reform also is a priority for Weld, who said he would seek a constitutional amendment to allow limits on certain types of campaign contributions.
“Citizens United has to go,” he said, referring to the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that allowed corporations and unions to make unlimited independent expenditures in political campaigns.
On gun control, Weld, a longtime hunter, said he supports so-called red flag laws. which allow police to temporarily take away the guns of people deemed by a judge to be a threat to themselves or others.
“We can’t do nothing,” he said.
Other measures, such as universal background checks or a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, wouldn’t receive Weld’s support, though.
Gun control measures in Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia preceded government-sanctioned massacres, he said. Similar claims have been labeled “false” by fact-checking website PolitiFact and “mostly false” by Snopes.com.
Weld formally filed on Wednesday for the New Hampshire primary in Concord and spoke at the Newport Rotary Club before visiting the Valley News. He is one of just two Republicans challenging Trump for the nomination. Former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh is expected to be in Lebanon on Thursday giving a talk to high school students.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.