Shelby on Trump soliciting foreign interference: “Those are just statements, political”@GStephanopoulos: “So it’s OK?”
Sen. Shelby: “I didn’t say it was OK …”
GS: This is the president of the U.S.
Shelby: He’s “human” and is going to “make mistakes” https://t.co/cqiFPziHtO pic.twitter.com/EdNVyHfy8p
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 19, 2020
Everyone’s gearing up for President Donald Trump‘s upcoming impeachment trial in the Senate, but some lawmakers are hedging their words, at best, on whether they think he’s acted correctly. Take Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Alabama). This Week host George Stephanopoulos asked him if he thought it was appropriate for POTUS to publicly solicit foreign interference in U.S. elections.
“Well, those were just statements, political,” the senator said. “They make them all the time.”
“So it’s okay?” Stephanopoulos said.
“I didn’t say it was okay,” Shelby said. “I said people make them. People do things. Things happen.”
“Well, this is the president of the United States,” Stephanopoulos said.
“Well, still, the president of the United States is human, and he’s going to make mistakes of judgment and everything else. They have, historically, both parties from the beginning of our republic.”
He said he didn’t think Trump’s behavior rose to the standard of an impeachable offense, but he said we should wait to see what comes out at trial.
Attorney George Conway, a prolific conservative critic of the president and husband of top White House official Kellyanne Conway, wryly dismissed the statement.
This is not a legal defense. https://t.co/QCf9KlvEmi
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) January 19, 2020
The president and his team emphatically deny that he committed any wrongdoing.
[Screengrab via ABC News]
