Trump Impeachment: Blumenthal Says Some Republicans Uncomfortable With McConnell Impeachment Plans

Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Friday several of his Republican colleagues are uncomfortable with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s stance on President Trump’s impeachment trial.

The House adopted two articles of impeachment against Trump, accusing him of abusing the power of his office for personal gain and then blocking investigations into his actions. McConnell, R-Ky., has said he plans to coordinate with the White House on trial strategy.

In an interview on the Connecticut Network, Blumenthal, D-Conn., accused McConnell of sabotaging the proceedings, adding at least five of his colleagues “have very severe misgivings about the direction that Mitch McConnell is going in denying a full, fair proceeding with witnesses and documents.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said in an interview with earlier this week with Anchorage television station KTUU she was “disturbed” by McConnel’s approach, but equally unhappy with the House decision to move ahead with impeachment without waiting for the courts to rule on subpoenas issued for key administration officials that were blocked by Trump, who claimed executive privilege.

“I believe Senator Murkowski is saying what a lot of my Republican colleagues are thinking, in fact, saying privately," Blumenthal said.

Blumenthal’s comments came a day after a law professor from Kentucky said McConnell may be about to violate two oaths of office by stacking the trial in Trump’s favor.

Kent Greenfield, a sixth-generation Kentuckian and law professor at Boston College, said oaths were a big deal to the framers of the Constitution in an op-ed published Thursday in the Louisville (Ky.) Courier Journal.

"We Kentuckians know that our word is our bond. Oaths are the most solemn of promises, and their breach results in serious reputational — and sometimes legal — consequences," Greenfield wrote, citing two sections of the Constitution, one dealing with oaths of office and the other dealing specifically with impeachment.

"McConnell’s loyalty to Trump should not overwhelm his loyalty to the Constitution," he wrote.

For his part, Trump spent Friday lauding the performance of the stock market and complaining about the fairness of the House impeachment inquiry.