The House of Representatives vote to impeach President Trump in connection with last week's riot at the U.S. Capitol represents a "wasted opportunity" for the two parties to find common ground, former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy said Wednesday.

McCarthy, now a Fox News contributor, argued on "Bill Hemmer Reports" that Congress could have censured the president on a bipartisan basis rather than perpetuating "a kind of a pointless, deep partisan divide toward no good end."

ANDY MCCARTHY: I think it's a wasted opportunity for the possibility of a consensus bill. There was no reason to go forward with this because the president couldn't be removed ... There isn't going to be a trial while President Trump is still in office. There was a possibility here of basically crafting a censure of what the president did in an accurate way that I think would have gotten a lot of Republican votes and all Democratic votes and would have presented bipartisan unity in condemnation to the country.

Instead, what we've had is a kind of a pointless, deep partisan divide toward no good end because the president isn't actually going to be tried and when the trial does eventually happen, whenever that is, there'll be a high likelihood that the president will be acquitted, both because they've larded this article of impeachment with terms like 'insurrection' and 'incitement' that won't hold up on examination.

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I just think it's a real wasted opportunity, toward what end, I don't know, other than deepening the divide in the country, and I say that as someone who thinks the president's conduct was impeachable.

The House voted 232-197 to impeach Trump on a single count of "incitement of insurrection". Ten Republicans joined 222 Democrats in voting for impeachment.