A Republican senator said Friday that he would not support any quick dismissal of articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump returned by the House because doing so would rob the president of the opportunity to clear his name.
“I know outside pundits are just bringing up, dismiss this thing out of hand and move on, but at the same time that would not afford President Trump the ability to really defend himself. So I think consensus view point literally is we’ll take it up in the Senate,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), told KHOW, a Colorado radio station.
Johnson is generally considered to be an ally of the president.
The senator also predicted that any articles of impeachment would be “incredibly flawed,” and that proceedings in the Senate, along with the president’s defense team, would successfully make the president’s case that he has not done anything wrong.
“I don’t think we should ever just bring up a motion to dismiss. I think if at some point in time if we’ve heard enough, if we’ve really got the votes, we should bring up a motion to vote,” Johnson noted, according to The Hill.
“Let’s actually vote on the articles of impeachment and then dispense with it that way,” Johnson added.
Earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also waved off suggestions that the chamber would merely dismiss the impeachment articles out of hand, noting that “the rules of impeachment are very clear, we’ll have to have a trial.”
And for his part, President Trump said Friday in an interview with “Fox & Friends” that he favored a trial.
“I want a trial,” he . “There’s nothing there.”
However, when asked if he expected to be impeached by the House, he responded, “I don’t expect it. I don’t expect it.”