Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell touted the “firewall” Senate that blocked the removal of President Trump after a three-week trial.
“The framers built the Senate to be a firewall,” McConnell wrote in a Louisville Courier-Journal published Monday. “We held the line. We fulfilled our constitutional duty, conducted a fair trial and delivered the outcome that President Trump deserved.”
McConnell defended the Senate’s decision to end the trial rather than call new witnesses sought by Democrats and two Republicans. Democrats wanted to hear testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton, who is about to publish a book that accuses Trump of withholding security aid from Ukraine to pressure government officials to investigate Democrats, including former Vice President Joe Biden.
Instead, the Senate voted to end the trial and to acquit Trump last week on two articles of impeachment charging him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
“The Senate’s vote to acquit and end this mess was not just the big victory that President Trump clearly deserved,” McConnell wrote. “It was also a crucial statement for the long-term future of our Republic. We declared that Democrats cannot declare war on our governing traditions just because they lose an election. It was not a high crime or misdemeanor to defeat Hillary Clinton at the ballot box.”
McConnell criticized Democrats for “radical constitutional changes,” they are proposing as part of the 2020 election platform, including court-packing and ending the Electoral College.
“This thinking is poison for American government,” McConnell wrote. “When you fail to persuade the Senate or the American people, the answer is to find better arguments, not to tear up the rules and write new ones. As long as I am majority leader, I will never let Democrats’ short-term rage inflict permanent damage on our Constitution.”
McConnell is running for a seventh term and is likely to be reelected, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
