Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley broke into Trump’s Senate impeachment process as a “kangaroo trial” while Democrats continued their case against the former president on Thursday.
“It is totally unconstitutional and incredibly selfish on the part of Democrats seeking their own personal political revenge here,” Hawley said in an interview with Fox News Harris Faulkner.
He added, “This is a total kangaroo trial.”
CAN THE SENATE STOP THE OPERATING TRUMP FOR THE PRESIDENT AGAIN?
The House’s impeachment managers appointed by Mayor Nancy Pelosi have their last opportunity to present their case against Trump on Thursday. The process started at noon and managers have up to eight hours to close the case. It is not known whether or not they will use all of their eight hours, but Trump’s legal team will take its turn to defend the former president after the close.
Trump’s legal team has argued this week that the impeachment of a former president is unconstitutional. Hawley said in the interview: “The Constitution does not allow them to do what they are trying to do”.
IMPEACHMENT JUDGMENT: HOW MANY SENATE VOTES ARE NECESSARY FOR CONVICT TRUMP?
“You will receive nothing but my conviction for what happened to those criminals on Capitol Hill on January 6, but that does not make the trial more legitimate than it is, which is totally illegitimate – not based on the Constitution,” said Hawley .
To win a conviction, Democrats would likely need at least 17 Republican senators to join all 50 Democratic senators to vote to convict. But this seems unlikely, as most Republican senators have spoken out against the constitutional basis of the trial.