The next step toward tomorrow’s historic vote
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, addressing Senate Democrats’ request for witness testimony during the possible impeachment trial, said the Senate is not the place to investigate.
The House is the legislative body that is tasked with building the case against the President, he said.
«If they fail, they fail. It’s not the Senate’s job to leap into the breach and search desperately for ways to get to guilty. That would hardly be impartial justice,» McConnell said.
He then referenced Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s proposal to hear from at least four witnesses at the trial. The House had moved ahead with the impeachment inquiry without some of the testimony, saying the process of waiting on court decisions could take months.
«The fact that my colleague is already desperate to sign up the Senate for new fact finding — which House Democrats themselves were too impatient to see through — well, that suggests something to me,» McConnell said. «It suggests that even Democrats who do not like this President are beginning to realize how dramatically insufficient the house’s rushed process has been.»
McConnell continued:
«Well, look, I hope the House of Representatives sees that too. If House Democrats’ case is this deficient, this thin, the answer is not for the judge and jury to cure it over here in the Senate. The answer is the house should not impeach on this basis in the first place.»
