Sen. Marco Rubio, the acting chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said Sunday that the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump is “stupid.”
“Well, first of all, I think the trial is stupid,” the Florida Republican said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I think it’s counterproductive. We already have a flaming fire in this country and it’s like taking a bunch of gasoline and pouring it on top of the fire.”
Arguments in the Senate trial of Mr. Trump are scheduled to start the week of Feb. 8.
The Democrat-led House impeached Mr. Trump on Jan. 13 for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol.
Mr. Rubio said the former president “bears responsibility” for some of what happened.
“It was most certainly a foreseeable consequence of everything that was going on,” he said. “I think that’s widely understood and maybe even better understood with the perspective of time. I think that’s separate from the notion of, let’s revisit this all and stir it up again.”
Mr. Rubio said a separate vote to ban Mr. Trump from ever seeking office again would be arrogant.
“I think that’s an arrogant statement for anyone to make,” he said. “Voters get to decide that. Who are we to tell voters who they can vote for in the future?”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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