VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — There were cheers and protests in Virginia Beach on Thursday night during a town hall with Representative Elaine Luria.
The impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump took center stage this evening.
According to a whistleblower, President Trump may have abused his official powers in a phone call with the Ukrainian president.
Some Democrats say he put pressure on the leader to investigate former Vice-President Joe Biden and his son.
Just last week, Luria announced her support for an inquiry.
Overall the crowd was supportive, but one heckler was nearly thrown out.
Several protesters also showed up to New Hope Baptist Church where Luria was speaking to voice their disapproval.
After a brief update on her accomplishments so far in Washington, Luria jumped right into the topic on everyone’s minds: impeachment.
“I didn’t spend 20 years in a uniform defending our country to watch something like this happen,” Luria said.
Luria is one of several congressional leaders who called for an official inquiry into President Trump after that phone call with the Ukranian president recently came to light.
Tensions grew as she was answering questions about her stance on the issue.
“This instance is a clear instance of president of the United States enlisting the help of a foreign leader to influence and malign a potential political opponent,” she said.
A man interrupted her saying “You are very wrong!”
Inside there was applause and support for Luria, but outside there were cheers of another kind.
A group of protesters gathered saying Luria is letting her district down.
“Within 10 months she’s sold out to Nancy Pelosi and AOC wing of the party and calling for impeachment. It’s going nowhere. There’s no basis,” said Jack Wilson, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia. “Perhaps what she should’ve done was wait for the facts to come out before she jumped in with both feet to impeach the president.”
Luria’s town hall comes hours after President Trump publicly called on China to start an investigation into the Bidens as well.
“I think it’s reprehensible and I don’t think that we can allow it, and that just reinforces my decision,” Luria said.
Luria discussed other topics of concern at the town hall.
She said she’s working towards universal background checks for gun purchases.
She also talked about increasing access to health care so veterans and others can get the mental health services they need.