Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Saturday for using an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump as a way to undo the 2016 presidential election which Democrats suggest was wrongly decided by the American people.
“When I watch the House impeachment proceedings I am both perplexed and appalled,” Kennedy told Fox News host Neil Cavuto. “Here is what I hear Speaker Pelosi and [House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff] saying to the American people: ‘You’re stupid and we are smart.’ I hear them saying to the American people, ‘you are so stupid you can’t govern yourselves.’ I hear them saying ‘you are so stupid that you chose President Trump over Secretary Clinton and we have got to fix it for you.’ I hear them saying ‘you are so stupid we are not even going to show you the evidence, you can’t handle it. We are going to do all of this behind closed doors and then tell you what we are going to do.'”
“I find that appalling. I find it perplexing because I read all these stories about Speaker Pelosi and what an extraordinarily talented politician she is and how she’s a strategic thinker and major tactician and I think to myself, does she really believe the American people are going to fall for this?” he continued. “I know that Speaker Pelosi is a smart lady — she’s not dumb, but if this were anybody else I would be thinking to myself it must suck to be that dumb.”
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives announced in September that they would be moving forward with an impeachment inquiry. The move was in response to a whistleblower’s testimony accusing Trump of asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden for using his position as vice president to remove a Ukrainian prosecutor who was looking into his son’s business dealings.
The reports were not confirmed at the time of the announcement, and it was not until a day later that the White House released a transcript of Trump’s exchange with Zelensky. After the transcript was made public, many have argued that it fails to show the direct quid-pro-quo agreement initially alleged.
Democrats, however, have stood their ground on impeachment despite refraining from naming a “high crime or misdemeanor,” as required by the Constitution. Pelosi also revealed earlier in the week that the House would hold off on a formal vote on impeachment, leaving an actual impeachment inquiry open-ended.
Cavuto pressed the Louisiana senator further and questioned whether Democrats can make a similar argument by putting forth that Republicans are “stupid enough” to carry water for a president who consistently puts members of his party on the spot.
“I don’t mind being on the spot. I don’t mind having a public — not a behind closed doors — but a public debate with the president of anybody else,” Kennedy responded. “But I have always believed, and I will continue to believe, shoot me when I stop believing that the ultimate arbiter is the American people.”