Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that he couldn’t imagine any a situation where the Republican-controlled Senate convicts and removes President Trump from office.
While the House needs a simple majority to pass articles of impeachment, the Senate sets the bar much higher, with more than two-thirds of the 100 senators voting to convict.
While McConnell said that the Senate would take up impeachment, he pilloried it as a waste of time.
“Nothing is happening because House Democrats seized with Trump derangement syndrome are consumed with this argument with the president,” McConnell said.
He again said that due to the Senate rules, the impeachment inquiry should go forward.
“I don’t think there’s any question that we have to take up the matter. The rules of impeachment are very clear, we'll have to have a trial. My own view is that we should give people the opportunity to put the case on,” he said.
Some senators, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), have suggested that the Senate vote to simply dismiss the House impeachment effort, which would require 51 votes.
McConnell has slammed the House-led process, saying Trump hasn’t been able to call in his own lawyers to defend himself.
In Kentucky, McConnell said that the biggest problem in the United States right now is the lack of civility on both sides of the political spectrum, calling on Americans to put down their anger.
He noted that in a Democracy, civility is an “important thing,” saying he wants to steer political discussions away from emotionally laden expressions.
“I intend, for what little impact I can have on that, not to act that way,” he said. “We have plenty of incentive to get angry. But as you may have noticed, I try to stay calm, be respectful and don’t get caught up in these intense debates that we have.”
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