Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., on Sunday defended Senate Leader Mitch McConnell for vowing to work with the White House on the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, saying “every senator is entitled to approach it in his own way.”
In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Kennedy said he intends to “keep an open mind.”
“Every senator is entitled to approach it his own way,” he said, noting however, “many positions by many senators are calcified.”
He also noted when it comes to the law on impeachment, “the rule is there are no substantive rules.”
“It is not a criminal trial,” he said. “The Senate is not really a jury. It is both jury and judge. The chief justice is not the judge, he’s the presiding officer. There are no standards of proof. There are no rules of evidence.”
Kennedy said, however, the House proceeding was “unnecessarily unfair.”
“[W]hen the American people walk away from the Senate trial, if we ever have one, I don’t want them saying: ‘Well, we were just run over by the same truck twice. It was unfair in the House and it was unfair in the Senate,’” he said. “I want people to think that it was a level playing field.”
Kennedy said it would be proper if Trump continued to block key White House witnesses from testifying if called by Congress.
“I fully expect the president to do two things: claim executive privilege, which is his right. And number two, demand his own list of witnesses,” he said.
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