Sen. John Kennedy admitted he thinks President Trump’s asking Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, the 2020 Democratic front-runner, is impeachable if the request was done for the president’s “parochial interest.”
Speaking with CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, the Louisiana Republican said of House Democrats’ impeachment proceedings, “If it can be demonstrated that the president asked for — and had the requisite state of line, that the president asked for an investigation of a political rival, that is over the line. But if he asked for an investigation of possible corruption by someone who happens to be a political rival, that is not over the line.”
Host Margaret Brennan then asked, “So ‘over the line,’ does that mean impeachable?”
“Yeah, probably,” Kennedy conceded.
“So, there is something that could potentially persuade you to vote for removal?” Brennan asked.
“I can’t answer that, Margaret, because that encompasses all possible scenarios,” the senator responded. “It is like asking me, if I didn’t go fishing on Saturday, how many fish would I have caught? All I’m saying is that it ought to be fair, it ought to be public — I read somewhere that democracy dies in darkness. It ought to be public. Both sides ought to be able to call their witnesses in front of God, their country, and the American people. And then let the American people decide.”
He added, “And the president and his counsel should be allowed to participate. I believe that would be fair. And then I will happily judge the evidence. But you can’t limit the witnesses, as Chairman Schiff and Speaker Pelosi are doing, selectively leak portions of the transcript that favor your opinion to friendly members of the press who lap it up like a puppy. I don’t think any fair-minded person in the Milky Way believes that Speaker Pelosi on Chairman Schiff are impartial here.”
House Democrats launched impeachment proceedings against the president last month in response to a whistleblower complaint about his July 25 phone call with the president of Ukraine, during which he urged the foreign leader to do him a “favor” by investigating Biden and his son for corruption, as well as debunked allegations that the country interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Republicans have railed against their Democratic counterparts for so far holding impeachment hearings behind closed doors. Public hearings are expected to begin next week, and GOP Rep. Devin Nunes of California has already made clear a list of witnesses Republicans wish to call forward.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, however, has already signaled that he will likely reject the request, but House Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney of New York indicated that it’s likely some will be called.
