Sen. Steve Daines on Wednesday criticized the impeachment proceedings now under in the Senate against fellow Republican President Donald Trump, saying it was the most partisan impeachment proceeding in the country’s history.
“It reminded me of when I went to high school in Bozeman, Montana. If I turned in a term paper and it was half complete, my teacher would toss it back to me and say ‘You didn’t get it done, it’s incomplete,’” the Montana Republican said during remarks shown on CSPAN2. “That is what I felt like what we saw last night was an incomplete case, they have not done their complete homework.”
Democrats said Trump abused the presidency by asking Ukraine to investigate political rivals while withholding crucial military aid, and also obstructed Congress by refusing to turn over documents or allow officials to testify in the House probe, according to the Associated Press. Republicans have cast the action as a politically motivated effort to weaken the president in the midst of his reelection campaign.
Daines said the House rushed the process into the Senate and added there are no crimes alleged in the documents. He called it the most partisan impeachment in the history of the United States. He appeared later in the day on “Fox News.”
“They had a half-baked, rushed, sham process,” he said of Democrats. “What this is all about .. is overturning the election of 2016 and trying to define the election of 2020. This is not about the underlying policy and the facts. It’s all about the politics at the moment.”
Daines, who is up for re-election, said earlier the day the fact it is in an election year is suspect and begs the question if Democrats want the Senate to overturn the 2016 election by removing Trump from office..
“I put the trust in the voters of this country, they should have that say, not the United States Senate,” he said.
Montana’s Democratic Sen. Jon Tester said Senators took an oath as jurors to carry out “a fair and just trial.”
“Majority Leader Mitch McConnell – joined by all of my Republican colleagues— yesterday denied every attempt to do that by blocking testimony from witnesses with firsthand knowledge of the president’s alleged offenses,” he said in an email.
Tester said he hoped his Republican colleagues will ensure the American public hears from “witnesses with firsthand knowledge and access to relevant documents.”
Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont, voted against the impeachment and accused Democrats of orchestrating a “sham” to overturn the 2016 elections.