Sen. Dick Durbin took his colleagues to task for declaring their intentions to vote to convict or acquit President Trump in a Senate trial before it has even started.
Speaking with CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, the Illinois Democrat said lawmakers in the upper chamber have “gone too far” in announcing their votes ahead of time.
“I’m going to take an oath of office when it comes to this impeachment, on the floor of the Senate,” he said. “In that, I promise ‘impartial justice so help me God,’ and I want to stick by that. I basically want to hear the evidence, read the documents, make a decision that’s right for America.”
Fill-in host Dana Bash then asked him if “it is a mistake” for senators to come out in favor or against removing the president from office before the Senate trial, which is expected to take place in January, has begun.
“I really think it is,” Durbin responded. “I think they’ve gone too far. You know, how can they hold their hands up and say, ‘I swear impartial justice?’ … They can’t do that.”
He added, “As far as I’m concerned, they can tell which way they’re leaning or how they feel in terms of the probability, but when it comes to saying, ‘I’ve made up my mind, it’s all over,’ — for goodness sake that’s not what the Constitution envisioned.”
Durbin’s comments come after some Senate Republicans, such as Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, have indicated that they will not be impartial jurors in the upcoming trial. Likewise, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who are running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, have indicated that they are already prepared to vote to remove Trump.
