Lamar Alexander still reluctant to talk impeachment – Nashville Post

While his contemporary Marsha Blackburn almost won’t stop talking about impeachment, Tennessee’s senior U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander remains reticent.

Back in Nashville Friday for a groundbreaking at the Tennessee Titans practice facility, Alexander, who is not seeking re-election next year, reiterated past statements about withholding judgment until the case is presented before the Senate.

“We senators are jurors or judges, and I think my responsibility is to wait for the articles of impeachment to come from the House, if they do, and then listen to the arguments and listen to the evidence and make my decision,” he said. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to be speculating about the impeachment before it happens.”

But Alexander did not walk back his past statement that impeachment of Republican President Donald Trump would be a “mistake.”

“I thought the president’s telephone call was inappropriate but that impeachment would be a mistake, … especially when you have an election to pick the president just around the corner,” he said Friday. “If the House does send us articles of impeachment, we have a constitutional responsibility to hear the case and I’m prepared to do that.”

Alexander did not express concern about Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s recent announcement that he would work in “total coordination” with the White House during impeachment.

“That’s between the leader and the White House,” Alexander said. “He talks with them every day.”

The House Judiciary Committee voted Friday to approve the articles of impeachment, paving the way for a vote of the full House. Democrats in the House accuse Trump of abuse of power and obstructing Congress. The articles allege Trump used his official position to press the president of Ukraine into investigating Trump’s domestic political rivals.