National Harbor, MD - About half a dozen panels at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference had the word "coup" in the title. Townhall had a chance to sit down with GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy and ask him about the obvious theme. He told us why "history will not be kind to the Democrats" when it takes into account the U.S. Senate impeachment trial of President Trump.
"It'll actually go back to what Alexander Hamilton warned us about more than 200 years ago," McCarthy said. "That it'll be such animosity from one political party that they'll misuse impeachment for their own political gain. I think Democrats will get punished for this."Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, was the biggest fool of this impeachment trial, McCarthy said. Not only did the chairman make up parts of Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky during the public impeachment hearings, but he previously held 18 different hearings in a basement.
He was nearly upstaged by another Democratic leader though. Speaker Pelosi was a fool in her own right, McCarthy explained, by "succumbing to the socialists in her own party" and letting impeachment go forward.
The Democrats' argument was flawed, and they lost their case. But was there one specific moment that sealed President Trump's acquittal?
"I think from the very beginning," McCarthy responded. "Once the president released the transcript, for the speaker of the House to say she's moving forward with impeachment. Had she waited 48 hours she never should have gone forward with it had she seen the transcript."
But, he predicts that it'll be the same story when they try to impeach Trump again.
"They didn't have a reason in the past," said McCarthy. "So they don't need a reason in the future."
Watch the rest of our interview above to learn how close Congress is on a deal to combat the coronavirus, who McCarthy thinks will win the Democratic Primary, and what's on his agenda should he become speaker of the House.