Vice President-elect Sen. Kamala D. Harris declined to weigh in on whether she personally supports impeaching President Trump for inciting a violent mob at the U.S. Capitol last week.
“The Congress is going to make its decision. Yeah,” Ms. Harris told CBS in a clip of an interview released on Tuesday.
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Anchor Jane Pauley had asked Ms. Harris whether she is clearly “for or not for” impeachment.
Before that, Ms. Pauley asked about the balance between President-elect Joseph R. Biden’s early agenda and the backdrop of impeachment.
“They’re going for impeachment and Joe Biden is focused on the first 100 days - don’t get in the way of that,” she said. “Can you have it both ways? What do you say to your colleagues on the Hill? What do you say to Joe Biden?”
“Well I’m obviously with Joe, and for a lot of reasons,” Ms. Harris replied. “And I think everybody has got to play in position. And as an incoming administration, our first priority has to be to get control of this pandemic and get people back to work and get kids back to school. And that’s our focus.”
The Democrat-led House is poised to impeach Mr. Trump this week on the grounds that the president incited violence against the U.S. government by firing up supporters near the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday shortly before a mob stormed and occupied the building.
Mr. Biden likewise said impeachment is a decision for Congress, though he expressed hope that the Senate could split time between an impeachment trial and moving forward on his agenda.
Unlike Mr. Biden, Ms. Harris is a sitting U.S. senator who might well have to vote on whether to convict Mr. Trump of an offense.
For the moment, it appears that a trial and ultimate vote in the Senate would take place after Ms. Harris is sworn in as vice president.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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