House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ignored her "political instincts" in allowing Democrats to make the "colossal political mistake" of a partisan impeachment attempt against President Donald Trump, because "this is a political loser," according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
"We've reached the conclusion this was a thoroughly political exercise from beginning to end," McConnell told reporters after Trump was acquitted in the Senate on Wednesday on both House articles of impeachment -- abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. "And the final irony of it all is the speaker was right in the beginning, because here we are today to judge the political impact of this.
"Because it all started about politics, how did it end about politics?
"Right now, this is a political loser for them," he added. "They initiated it; they thought this was a great idea, and at least for the short term, it has been a colossal political mistake."
Pelosi was turned by her House Democrats against her "political instincts," he added.
"I'm pretty sure she didn't want to do this, but the fact that she was pulled in this direction, against what appeared to be her political instincts a year ago, underscores that this was a purely political exercise," he continued.
Pelosi then made another mistake: making a "rush job" of the impeachment in the House, only to sit on the articles for a month, he added.
"It was about taking the Senate, trying to bog us down in this and try to get my guys to have a lot of tough votes," McConnell said. "So, I'm proud of my guys seeing through that."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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