McConnell: ‘Time to move on’ from Trump impeachment talk

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday hit back at calls from some Democrats to start impeachment proceedings against President Trump, saying it’s “time to move on.”  

“Well, look, I think it’s time to move on. This investigation was about collusion, there’s no collusion, no charges brought against the president on anything else, and I think the American people have had quite enough of it,” McConnell told reporters in Kentucky, according to NBC News. 

{mosads}McConnell is one of 14 GOP senators, some of whom were members of the House at the time, who in 1998 either voted to either impeach or convict then-President Clinton on obstruction charges.  

Impeachment proceedings would have to be initiated in the House. If the lower chamber passes impeachment articles against a president, a trial would then be held in the Senate, which has successfully never voted to remove a president from office. 

McConnell’s comments come as special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on his two-year probe into Russia’s election interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign has sparked new impeachment calls from some Democratic lawmakers.  

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) became the first of several 2020 presidential hopefuls in the Senate to call for the House to start impeachment trials, writing in a tweet late last week that “the severity of this misconduct demands that elected officials in both parties set aside political considerations and do their constitutional duty.”

But Democrats are struggling to find a unified front on how they are answering the impeachment question. House Democrats are scheduled to hold a phone call later Monday to talk about their next steps after the release of the redacted Mueller report.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) sent a letter to the members of her caucus acknowledging the different opinions about how to respond to Mueller’s findings.

“While our views range from proceeding to investigate the findings of the Mueller report or proceeding directly to impeachment, we all firmly agree that we should proceed down a path of finding the truth,” Pelosi wrote.

“It is also important to know that the facts regarding holding the President accountable can be gained outside of impeachment hearings,” she added.

Trump brushed off a question about impeachment on Monday, telling reporters at the White House’s annual Easter egg roll that he was “not even a little bit” worried.