White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said that President Donald Trump is “not afraid of a fight” as the House of Representatives prepared to finally send the articles of impeachment passed last month to the Senate.
House Democrats said they would vote on Wednesday to send the articles to the Senate, triggering an impeachment trial. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she delayed the submission because of concerns Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wouldn’t conduct a “fair trial,” but so far it appears little came of the delay.
Appearing on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday morning, Gidley said, “I hate to talk about hypotheticals, but let’s be clear: The president is not afraid of a fight.”
“And if you or anyone within the sound of our voices have been falsely accused of a crime, with no proof and no evidence, for more than three years, you’d want every witness to come forward too, and say this man did nothing wrong,” he continued.
“We are not afraid of a fight. We are prepared and whether this thing goes to a full trial, whether it’s modified or whether it’s just dismissed out of hand for the sham illegitimate scam it has become, we will be ready.”
Senate Democrats have pushed for witnesses to be voted on in the initial vote by senators, but McConnell said last week he has the votes to start the trial without voting on whether to call witnesses, reiterating he wants to follow the guidelines established in the 1999 trial of President Bill Clinton.
There could still be witnesses called later in the trial, McConnell said.
Some Republicans have indicated they support calling witnesses, and several have said that the president should get to call witnesses as well, such as former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden.
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of the Senate Republican leadership, announced Monday that there aren’t enough votes to dismiss the two articles of impeachment against Trump.
“I think our members generally are not interested in the motion to dismiss. They think both sides need to be heard,” Blunt told reporters.
Trump has signaled he’d like the articles to be dismissed outright, writing in a statement on Sunday: “Many believe that by the Senate giving credence to a trial based on the no evidence, no crime, read the transcripts, “no pressure” Impeachment Hoax, rather than an outright dismissal, it gives the partisan Democrat Witch Hunt credibility that it otherwise does not have. I agree!”
