Sen. Blackburn: Our job is to review impeachment, not expand it
Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn says impeachment will be reviewed in a fair and expedient manner in the Senate.
It is not the job of the Senate to "expand" the case for the impeachment of President Trump, Senate Judiciary Committee Member Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said Thursday.
Appearing on "Fox & Friends" with hosts Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade, Blackburn said that her constituents in Tennessee and voters across the nation are "sick and tired" of impeachment.
"It is not our job to expand the impeachment," she told the "Friends" hosts. "It is our job to review what they have sent forward, and that's exactly what we're going to do. We're going to do it in an expedient matter. We're going to be fair to the president, and to the process, and we're going to get this behind us."
MCCONNELL SETS STAGE FOR IMPEACHMENT TRIAL LAUNCH, WARNS 'BOTH SIDES' COULD CALL WITNESSES
After passing two articles of impeachment in the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., stalled the transfer of the articles to the Senate for a few weeks, calling for Republicans to provide details on witnesses and testimony.
While her Democratic colleagues argued that holding the articles was hurting the impeachment case, Pelosi defended the delay in an appearance on ABC News' "This Week."
"What we think we accomplished in the past few weeks is that we wanted the public to see the need for witnesses," she said, warning that Republican senators would "pay a price" if they blocked any new witness testimony.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., fourth from left, speaks during a news conference to announce impeachment managers on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
On Wednesday, Pelosi announced the impeachment managers and finally transmitted the articles to the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he believes the Senate could launch into the trial as early as next Tuesday.
Additionally, he conceded Tuesday he was considering allowing both sides – Democrats and Republicans – to call additional witnesses.
Also on Wednesday, House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., told reporters that if the Senate does not permit the introduction of all relevant witnesses and documents the House wants to introduce, then they are "engaging in an unconstitutional and disgusting cover-up."
Blackburn said that the Senate would not heed Nadler's warning and would "abide by the rules that have been set forward."
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"We will pass a resolution of how we're going to proceed," she stated. "And, bear in mind, Brian, impeachment is a noun. The impeaching process took place in the House. If they wanted to call these witnesses they could have called them."
"They have taken one of the most serious processes in the Constitution and they are politicizing it, and they have had this as a partisan political impeachment from day one," she concluded.
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