|
"I
don’t really think I want one (third term)" Rooney, of Florida,
told Fox News.
He said he was concerned about an acknowledgment by Mick
Mulvaney, the White House acting chief of staff, on Thursday
that the Trump administration had held up nearly $400 million in
aid for Ukraine to pressure the country to investigate a
debunked conspiracy theory about interference in the 2016 U.S.
elections.
Trump and administration officials had denied for weeks that
they had demanded a "quid pro quo" - a Latin phrase meaning a
favor for a favor - for delivering the U.S. aid, a key part of a
controversy that has triggered an impeachment inquiry in the
House against the Republican president.
"The president was saying no quid pro quo, I was giving the guy
the benefit of the doubt...and come to find out there was a
clearer quid pro quo admitted to by his chief of staff," Rooney
told Fox.
Mulvaney's comments, which the White House later tried to walk
back, "are probably going to drive some people just to rethink
this just a little more," Rooney said.
He said he was also concerned with Trump's removal of U.S.
forces in Syria which has allowed Turkey to launch an offensive
against Kurdish fighters who were a U.S. ally in the fight
against Islamic State.
Rooney also said his decision was based on support for term
limits and frustration with partisanship in Washington.
Rooney had tweeted on Friday that he had never endorsed the
impeachment enquiry led by Democrats, but since it was underway,
"I am in favor of finding out all of the factual information
available in this process."
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Lucia Mutikani; Editing by
Alistair Bell)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
