Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) rebuked Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) for their errors in the impeachment proceedings into President Trump during a floor speech on Tuesday.
McConnell said it was wrong for Schumer to have his impeachment trial request be leaked through the media instead of having an in-person conversation, especially since he misquoted the Constitution in his letter.
"The preferable path would have been an in-person conversation which nonetheless I still hope to pursue. Instead, he chose to begin by writing me an 11-paragraph letter on Sunday evening delivered by way of the news media, and begin a cable television campaign a few hours later," McConnell said. "The Democratic leader’s letter is an interesting document from the very beginning. For example, in the second of its 11 paragraphs, our colleague literally misquotes the Constitution. That error actually aligns with our colleague’s apparent confusion about some of the deeper questions."
McConnell criticized Schumer for wanting to now have witnesses in the Senate trial, saying the House Democrats were supposed to call them during their impeachment inquiry.
"Chairman Adam Schiff and House Democrats actively decided not to go to court and pursue potentially useful witnesses because they didn’t want to wait for due process," McConnell said.
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"So now the Senate Democratic leader would apparently like our chamber to do House Democrats’ homework for them. He wants to volunteer the Senate’s time and energy on a fishing expedition to see whether his own ideas could make Chairman Schiff’s sloppy work more persuasive than Chairman Schiff himself bothered to make it," he continued.
The full House is set to vote on the two articles of impeachment against Trump, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, on Wednesday. The articles are expected to pass where they will then head to the Senate for a trial.
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