In Erie today, former Pennsylvania Governor and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge said he thinks House Speaker Nancy Pelosi really had no choice when deciding to launch the impeachment inquiry of President Trump.

Ridge was the keynote speaker at a luncheon supporting hiring the disabled.

He said the investigation is needed to figure out the facts and what really happened involving the president, others in his administration and Ukraine.

But he urges both sides to cool off, and make sure other government business is getting done.

He said, "I understand the president's sensitivity to all this criticism but I wish he would kind of tone it down. The leadership on both sides need to tone it down and get back to the business of government. I am not sure it is going to happen. I am hopeful that it will."

Ridge calls the current environment in Washington "toxic."