Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) was interviewed by NBC News on Saturday where he claimed that Donald Trump “crossed a line” by withholding military aid from Ukraine in exchange for dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden. But even with that in mind, Alexander claimed that the Senate shouldn’t decide if Trump is removed from office and that voters should be the ones who choose that.
“I think he shouldn’t have done it. I think it was wrong. Inappropriate was the way I’d say — improper, crossing the line. And then the only question left is who decides what to do about that,” Alexander said during an exclusive interview airing tomorrow on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“It struck me, really for the first time, early last week, that we’re not just being asked to remove the president from office. We’re saying, tell him he can’t run in the 2020 election which begins Monday in Iowa,” Alexander said.
“I think what he did is a long way from treason, bribery, high crimes, and misdemeanors. I don’t think it’s the kind of inappropriate action that the framers would expect the Senate to substitute its judgment for the people in picking a president.”
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Alexander was one of the few Republicans who Democrats hoped would switch party lines and vote to have witnesses at Trump’s impeachment trial.
“Meet the Press” asked Alexander why he didn’t support additional witnesses. He responded by saying that Republicans already know Trump did wrong and any additional information would not be needed to come up with a conclusion.
“If you have eight witnesses who say someone left the scene of an accident, why do you need nine? I mean, the question for me was: Do I need more evidence to conclude that the president did what he did? And I concluded no,” he said.
“He delayed the military and other assistance to Ukraine in order to encourage that investigation,” into Biden.
You can see part of the interview HERE.
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