Sen. Lee: Law professor comparing Trump to a monarch is 'irresponsible'
Senate Judiciary Committee member Mike Lee reacts to testimony from House committee impeachment hearing.
Senate Judiciary Committee member Mike Lee, R-Utah, appeared on "Fox News @ Night" responding to Wednesday's impeachment hearing, defending the president and slamming Stanford University law professor Pamela Karlan for comparing the president to a monarch.
"That was a very irresponsible statement by that professor. In fact, that she would compare him to a monarch indicates she doesn't understand the meaning of the word tyranny," Lee said Wednesday night. "She doesn't understand the risk associated with the concentration of power."
IMPEACHMENT WITNESS SNAPS AT DOUG COLLINS DURING HEARING, TELLS HIM SHE'S 'INSULTED' BY COMMENTS
Legal scholars made their case for and against impeaching President Trump earlier Wednesday during the House Judiciary Committee hearing, with Democrats and their three witnesses reviving concerns raised during the Russia probe, and Republicans and their sole witness arguing that the impeachment of Trump is “predetermined,” “woefully inadequate,” and “dangerous."
Lee called the Democrats pursuit "delusional."
"Look, all the president did here was ask the Ukrainian government to investigate a foreign company, a Ukrainian energy company called Burisma, one that the Obama administration had been arguing for years, needed to be investigated," Lee said. "That's somehow was wrong? That somehow subjects him to impeachment? I think not, but I think they're delusional and suggesting otherwise."
Lee commented on a lunch meeting he attended Wednesday with fellow GOP senators and White House counsel Pat Cipollone, saying it was off the record but that Cipollone was "ready to go" for a likely Senate trial.
"If if they were to move forward tomorrow, he'd be ready to go to trial tomorrow and he'd win," Lee told Bream.
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The Utah senator called the impeachment inquiry "unprecedented," adding that the Democrats case is "weak."
"They know their case is weak," Lee said. "So they try to cover it up by denying the president procedural rights that compounds the problem."
Fox News' Gregg Re and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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