RTThu, 19 Dec 2019 19:03 UTC
© REUTERS/Aaron P. BernsteinSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell addressed the House voting to impeach President Donald Trump from the Senate floor and said the effort is "rushed" and unlike any other in history.
Speaking from the Senate floor on Thursday morning, McConnell blasted the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump as "the most rushed, least thorough and most unfair" in American history.
House Dems were celebratory on Wednesday night after passing articles of impeachment against Trump. The charges are abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. McConnell said the standard for the charges are based on a "pandora's box of subjective political impeachment" and they set a "toxic" precedent.
The Kentucky senator, who will oversee an impeachment trial once the articles of impeachment are transferred from the House, said "230 years of tradition died" on Wednesday night as Congress passed "constitutionally incoherent" articles of impeachment. He argued that Democrats have presented no evidence for their charges, but have instead gone after the administration for refusing to let administration officials take part in the impeachment inquiry. This, he argued, is presidential privilege and not proof of illegal activity.
By setting the "low bar" they have set with their vote, McConnell said Democrats have put future presidents more at risk of being impeached over basic disagreements and the Senate could be further "swamped" with "partisan" impeachment efforts in the years to come.
McConnell also addressed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not committing to immediately transferring the articles of impeachment to the Senate, to which McConnell said she is "too afraid" to have the Senate trial kick off since she knows it will not pass.
"Prosecutors are getting cold feet," he said of Pelosi.
Comment: And the circus rolls on. After the vote, Pelosi said the matter
would not be sent immediately to the Senate. Trump shot back
He then pronounced Pelosi's move as political
suicide march for the Democratic Party, with Steve Scalise weighing in:
Trump noted the difference as he fired back at Democrats at a campaign rally in Battle Creek, Michigan.
"We did not lose one Republican vote and three Democrats voted for us," he said. "The Republican Party has never been so affronted but they have never been so united as they are right now."
"Think of it, three Democrats went over to our side, no Republicans - it's unheard of."
Taking aim at the impeachment saga itself, Trump did not mince words, calling it "illegal, unconstitutional and partisan," and predicting it would spell the end of the Democratic Party since Democrats "have branded themselves with an eternal mark of shame."
"The do-nothing Democrats are declaring their deep hatred and disdain for the American voter. This lawless partisan impeachment is a political suicide march for the Democratic Party"
Still, there were some voices of sanity to be heard if you tried hard enough. Tulsi Gabbard distinguished herself by
refusing to participate in the hysterics and garnered some support for doing so:
Voting "present" instead of "yes" or "no" in Wednesday's full House vote for two impeachment articles passed in committee last week, Gabbard became one of only a tiny minority of Democrats to swim against the current in her own party.
"I could not in good conscience vote for impeachment because removal of a sitting President must not be the culmination of a partisan process, fueled by tribal animosities that have so gravely divided our country," Gabbard said in a lengthy statement after the vote.
While the sanest of the sane, Russian president Vladimir Putin
called out the lunacy for what it was:
"This is just political infighting. A party that lost the elections, the Democrats, now seeks to achieve its goals with some other means. They first accused Trump of colluding with Russia but later it turned out that there was no collusion and it could not be used as a reason to impeach him, so they came up with accusations related to some alleged pressure he exerted on Ukraine..."
Comment: And the circus rolls on. After the vote, Pelosi said the matter would not be sent immediately to the Senate. Trump shot back
He then pronounced Pelosi's move as political suicide march for the Democratic Party, with Steve Scalise weighing in: Still, there were some voices of sanity to be heard if you tried hard enough. Tulsi Gabbard distinguished herself by refusing to participate in the hysterics and garnered some support for doing so: While the sanest of the sane, Russian president Vladimir Putin called out the lunacy for what it was: