Former Gov. Tom Ridge says Trump asking leader for political favor is 'abuse of power'

Pennsylvania’s former Gov. Tom Ridge is leaving it up to Congress as to whether President Donald Trump should be impeached but in his mind, there’s little doubt the president abused his power when he asked Ukraine to investigate his rivals, including Joe Biden.

Ridge was in Harrisburg on Tuesday to speak at a renewable energy symposium sponsored by the Pennsylvania Conservative Energy Forum and not for Trump’s campaign rally in Hershey later in the day.

Ridge, the nation’s first homeland security secretary, indicated he is disturbed by Trump’s actions that led House Democrats to unveil articles of impeachment on Tuesday against the president.

“I am disappointed and troubled by the very fact that my president — and he is my president — would ask a foreign leader of a troubled country who’s been besieged by an enemy of the United States, to do him a political favor,” said Ridge. “As far as I’m concerned, it is abuse of power.”

Ridge has made it clear previously he is not a fan of Trump’s. He didn’t endorse him in 2016 and is not going to endorse him in his election next year.

In fact, Ridge admitted he is going to be open-minded about which candidate gets his vote. But Ridge said it will be the one who he believes would best serve the country and would bring the appropriate “experience and demeanor and global perspective” to the office — even if that candidate is a Democrat.

“I’m going to wait and see what the Democrats do before I make my final decision.,” he said. “People know how I feel about Trump so obviously I will be looking for an alternative. If not, as I’ve said to folks before, I wrote in the names of two Republican governors before because I love govs.”

Here are some other thoughts Ridge shared before and after his appearance at the energy forum:

Would Ridge consider endorsing the Democratic presidential nominee?

“I’m a lifelong Republican. I don’t see myself publicly endorsing a Democrat. That’s for sure,” he said.

What are his thoughts about President Trump’s handling of foreign affairs?

“I don’t think we have a coherent foreign policy,” he said. “I don’t know how my president — and he is my president — thinks it’s in America’s best interest to withdraw from economic global arrangements, to withdraw from strategic military global arrangements, to withdraw from the need to build and maintain other” strategic relationships when the world is being more connected “globally, digitally, militarily, economically, environmentally.”

What effect do you think that has had on the United States’ position in world affairs?

Other countries are gaining more influence in global affairs, he said. And Russian President Vladimir Putin “has got to be one of the happiest world leaders. Even in his wildest imagination he never imagined when he played in our election in 2016, and he’s playing with it in 2019 and 2020, that he would have four years of incredible political destabilization because of what he did and he’ll keep doing it.”

What would be the impact on national security of four more years of this foreign policy approach?

“Four more years in my judgment means we have less and less ability to influence events consistent with America’s interest,” Ridge said. “Withdrawing from the rest of the world, criticizing your allies, refusing to build out other relationships is contrary to the long-term best interests of the United States. If we would continue that for the next four years in a world that becomes progressively more perilous, more challenging, I think is contrary to the best interest of our country. I just do. I can’t be any more clear.”