McConnell Criticizes Impeachment Inquiry as ‘Kangaroo Court’ in Fundraising Pitch

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) addresses the Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority Policy Conference at the U.S. Capitol Visitor's Center Auditorium in Washington, D.C., on Jun. 27, 2019. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has new criticism for the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, accusing the Democrats of running a “kangaroo court.”

The Democratic leadership is “conducting a kangaroo court over in the House, denying the president his due process rights that every American is entitled to,” McConnell stated in the Facebook ad. “If I have your support, I hope you'll donate now,” he added, reported The Hill.

The ads began running on Oct. 24, according to Facebook.

In a caption for one ad, he wrote that “we cannot sit back and let the House Dems deny President Trump basic fairness and due process. Help me fight this kangaroo court!”

McConnell hasn’t made many public statements about the impeachment inquiry.

“We have not had any conversations on this subject,” McConnell recently said of Trump’s July 25 phone call with the president of Ukraine, which is a central focus of the inquiry.

And a week before that, Senate Republicans said that the majority leader is seeking a quick impeachment trial should it clear the House.

Pictured in the photo with the president was Vice President Mike Pence, National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army General Mark A. Milley, and Deputy Director for Special Operations Brig. Gen. Marcus Evans. (White House)

“One of the hypotheticals is we get these before Thanksgiving break,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.). He added, “There’s great motivation to get this done by Christmas.”

In a news conference after the meeting, McConnell said that “senators will not be allowed to speak, which will be good therapy for a number of them. We intend to do our constitutional responsibility.”

McConnell was one of 50 Senators who co-signed to Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) resolution to condemn House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.

In announcing the measure on Thursday, Graham said the House is “out of bounds” and is “inconsistent with the process as we know it,” referring to impeaching a president.

“What’s going on is a run around of the impeachment process … that fundamentally” ignores due process under the law, he said. “It’s a danger to the future of the presidency,” he added.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) holds a press conference about the House impeachment inquiry process, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Oct. 24, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Graham stated that Congress has set precedent for how impeachment proceedings should be handled, noting how it was done during the cases of former President Andrew Johnson, former President Richard Nixon, and former President Bill Clinton.

“This resolution puts the Senate on record condemning the House. … Here’s the point of the resolution: Any impeachment vote based on this process, to me, is illegitimate, is unconstitutional, and should be dismissed in the Senate without a trial,” Graham told Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

A resolution in the Senate would need at least 60 votes to pass.

Trump and other Republicans have called on House Democrats to formally vote on the impeachment inquiry. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has said that it isn’t required under the rules.