Sen. Cramer: 'Pathetic' impeachment case not worth America's time
Kevin Cramer weighs in on the decision to present witnesses at the Senate impeachment trial, stating, "It's not the Senate's job to make an incompetent pleading competent."
Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., reacted Thursday to the House vote to impeach President Trump for "abuse of power" and "obstruction of Congress" related to his dealings with Ukraine saying the nation's time should not be further wasted on Democrats' weak case against the president.
“At this point the Democrats have presented such a pathetic case I don’t think we should waste a lot of America’s time on it," Cramer said on “America’s Newsroom.”
Cramer made the comment the morning after the vote and minutes after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tore into Nancy Pelosi for “shoddy work” and said Democrats may be “too afraid” to send the articles to the Senate after the House speaker abruptly held off on transmitting them.
“I have to say, I've never been more pleased with the leadership and more pleased with our leader Mitch McConnell than I am right now having listened to that,” he said.
HOUSE IMPEACHES TRUMP OVER UKRAINE DEALINGS, AS PELOSI FLOATS HOLDING UP SENATE TRIAL
“The only thing he said that I might disagree with is in referencing Nancy Pelosi's behavior. He said it’s comical. It would be comical if it wasn't so tragic.”
When asked if he wants to hear from witnesses in a Senate trial Cramer said he did not want to make that decision yet.
“I think the time to make the decision on witnesses is after we hear the House managers plead their case. And we know their case quite well -- obviously, it isn't much of a case at all -- but I want to hear them first,” the Republican senator said.
“Then I want to hear the defense’s statement, maybe get some questions through the chief justice and then, at that point, maybe we should get together and talk about whether we want to hear from more witnesses.”
“I share the leader's concern that it's really not the Senate's job to make an incompetent pleading competent," he went on to say. "It’s our job to be the jurors, not to be assistants to the prosecutors. So I'm inclined to not want to hear from more witnesses.”
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“There was a time I thought it would be good to hear from the whistleblower, from [former Vice President Joe Biden’s son] Hunter Biden. But at this point, the Democrats have presented such a pathetic case I don’t think we should waste a lot of America’s time on it,” Cramer added.
He said Pelosi appears to be trying to "stall" on sending the impeachment articles to the Senate, perhaps hoping the Democrats' "friends in the media" can help sway public opinion in favor of impeachment.
Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
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