Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin said Monday that efforts to rush President Donald Trump through a second impeachment would be “ill-advised.”
Manchin told Fox News anchor Bret Baier that he thought Democrats would be better served to focus on helping President-elect Joe Biden through the transition rather than try to impeach Trump again in the last few days of his presidency. (RELATED: ‘I Went To The Shooting Range Yesterday’: Manchin Says People Shouldn’t Be ‘Scared To Death’ Of Democrats Taking Guns)
WATCH:
“I want to talk to you first about the impeachment effort,” Baier said, noting that by all accounts, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared to have the votes to pass articles of impeachment. “Is there any scenario where you see that the U.S. Senate would try and convict President Trump?”
Manchin said he did not believe the Senate would have enough Republican support to convict even if the House did send articles of impeachment to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“They know the votes aren’t there,” Manchin continued. “I think this is so ill-advised for Joe Biden to be coming in, trying to heal the country, try to be the president of all the people when we are so divided and fighting again.”
Manchin said that there would be plenty of time for investigations, adding, “There’s no rush to do this impeachment now. We can do it later if they think it’s necessary.”
Baier asked whether there would be any real point in holding an impeachment trial for a president who had already left office, and Manchin said that it would still have a political impact.
“That they’re trying to do it now, it’s not going to happen,” Manchin warned again, saying, “He’ll be out of office no matter what happens because Mitch is not going to take it up. Mitch is still the majority leader until the two new senators are sworn in, so — Mitch doesn’t have unanimous consent to take it up immediately, so they can pass it tomorrow or the day after, send it over, and Mitch won’t take it up basically until the 19th and nothing will start until after Joe Biden is sworn in as president.”