Republican Senator Says He Would Advise Donald Trump Against Testifying In Impeachment Trial
During an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley said that he would advise President Donald Trump against testifying in the Senate impeachment trial, reports Mediaite.
Grassley discussed the latest developments in the impeachment investigation with host Neil Cavuto, acknowledging that the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives is almost certainly impeaching the president.
“Do you think that’s a foregone conclusion?” Cavuto asked.
“I believe so,” Grassley responded, explaining that House Democrats have the votes necessary to impeach Trump, but noting that almost all of those in favor will come from them.
“They’ll all be Democrat votes, I think. They could lose a few and a few more than they had on the initial vote,” the senator said, opining that the Democratic base is pressuring Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to follow through with impeachment.
“Her base is so strongly condemning the president that they don’t need an excuse to impeach under the Constitution of treason, and bribery, and high crimes and all that sort of stuff. They just need to have a good reason,” Grassley said.
Earlier today, Pelosi formally asked the chairs of key House committees to draft articles of impeachment against Trump, stating that there is now enough evidence to move forward toward the final stages of the process, according to Politico.
Pelosi refused to give a timeline for any vote on impeachment, but the House is expected to vote by Christmas.
Cavuto also asked the senator about the possibility of the president testifying in the impeachment trial, which would be held by the Republican-controlled Senate. In response, Grassley said that he would advise Trump against testifying, noting that the commander-in-chief has the right to refuse to testify.
“I would advise the president not to. And the president couldn’t be forced to come and testify,” the Republican lawmaker said.
.@ChuckGrassley to Neil: I would advise the President not to testify in a Senate impeachment trial pic.twitter.com/6VpPLqKuA9
— Neil Cavuto (@TeamCavuto) December 5, 2019
According to an anonymous whistleblower, Trump pressured the Ukrainian government to investigate one of his top political rivals, former Vice President Joe Biden, among others. The president allegedly withheld — and threatened to permanently cut — military aid to Ukraine in order to force the country’s authorities to fulfill his request.
House Democrats claim that the whistleblower’s claims have been corroborated by numerous witnesses, and they are reportedly looking at four different articles of impeachment, accusing Trump of obstruction of justice, obstruction of Congress, bribery, and abuse of power.
Congressional Republicans — who have long complained about procedural matters, criticizing their Democratic colleagues — claim that impeachment is the Democrats’ latest attempt to remove Trump from office before the 2020 presidential election.
For instance, Rep. Doug Collins, the highest-ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, alleged on Wednesday that the supposed Democratic conspiracy against Trump began in 2016 after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election.
