Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell slammed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “rushed and partisan impeachment,” following her Thursday announcement that Democrats would move forward with articles of impeachment against President Trump.
The Kentucky Republican said on the Senate floor that Mrs. Pelosi’s lack of attention to trade and funding for the military during her remarks was evidence that Americans’ needs were being deprioritized in favor of “a partisan wishlist that is meant to appease trial lawyers, public sector unions, and their own far-left base.”
“Only in this town, madam president, only in Washington does anybody think it’s OK for our armed forces to go unfunded and a major trade deal to go unpassed because Democrats are too busy hosting a panel of law professors,” Mr. McConnell said on the Senate floor on Thursday. “Hosting a panel of law professors to criticize President Trump on television instead of the things the American people actually need us to address.”
After Wednesday’s House Judiciary Committee impeachment proceedings featuring law professor panelists, Mrs. Pelosi announced that her chamber would proceed with articles of impeachment. At a press conference following Mr. McConnell’s criticism, Mrs. Pelosi labeled the Senate Majority Leader the “grim reaper” for stalling legislation in the Senate and said she had no choice but to pursue impeachment.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer said Thursday that Mr. McConnell’s remarks were “disheartening, confounding, deeply disappointing” and added that “no belittling of these charges [against Mr. Trump] will hold any water.”
“The Republican Leader is simply wrong to suggest that the House process has been anything but deliberate, evenhanded and serious,” the New York Democrat said on the Senate floor. “Speaker Pelosi, the House Intelligence Committee, the House Judiciary Committee are proceeding exactly how the Constitution prescribes.”
SEE ALSO: Donald Trump welcomes impeachment: ‘Do it now, fast’
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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