Former Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) told Fox News’s Sean Hannity on Thursday that Democrats are not trying to remove President Donald Trump with impeachment, but instead are focused on kneecapping his second term by flipping the Senate so he can’t get anything done.
“Let’s skip over the process,” Gowdy said. “The process, the three month long inquiry investigation was laughable. But they voted. That’s the House’s prerogative. They voted, not a single Republican went along with them. In fact, they didn’t even keep all the Democrats. But the House exercised its prerogative and they impeached the president.”
“There is no mathematical way he is ever going to be convicted and they know that,” Gowdy continued. “So their goal cannot be to remove Donald Trump from office, it is to neuter his second term. I think he is going to win in November. It’s to neuter that second term by targeting the Cory Gardners and the Martha McSallys and the Thom Tillises and the Susan Collins and Joni Ernst because if Trump wins and doesn’t have the Senate then he is not going to get any judicial vacancies filled and he’s not going to replace a Supreme Court Justice if he or she retires.”
“He is he not going to get the foreign policy he wants,” Gowdy continued. “He is not going to get the cabinet he wants. I never thought this was about removing Donald Trump because they’re not going to do it. It’s about putting Cory Gardner in a really tough series of votes so he has to defend him in November of this fall.”
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TRANSCRIPT:
HANNITY: And tonight my next guest believes the ongoing impeachment charade was never about removing president trump from office. Instead it was designed as a tool to hurt republican senators in blue and purple states. This is guy that has never lost a case as a prosecutor in his life. Pretty smart guy. He is also — are you now back officially as a fox news contributor. Did we put the camera back the way it was supposed to be? Trey Gowdy is with us.
GOWDY: Everything is great and I’m thrilled to be back.
HANNITY: I didn’t ask if everything is great. Did they take care of you and resign you, because I’m fighting for Trey Gowdy to be a Fox News contributor.
GOWDY: Yes, sir, they have been fantastic. They have been great. Thank you.
HANNITY: You gave a lot of great statements. I know this is your wheel house. Tell us why this is so corrupt.
GOWDY: Let’s skip over the process. The process, the three month long inquiry investigation was laughable. But they voted. That’s the House’s prerogative. They voted not a single Republican went along with them. In fact, they didn’t even keep all the Democrats. But the House exercised its prerogative and they impeached the president. There is no mathematical way he is ever going to be convicted and they know that. So their goal cannot be to remove Donald Trump from office, it is to neuter his second term. I think he is going to win in November. It’s to neuter that second term by targeting the Cory Gardners and the Martha McSallys and the Thom Tilliss and the Susan Collins and Joni Ernst because if Trump wins and doesn’t have the Senate then he is not going to get any judicial vacancies filled and he’s not replace a Supreme Court Justice if he or she retires. He is he not going to get the foreign policy he wants. He is not going to get the cabinet he wants. I never thought this was about removing Donald Trump because they’re not going to do it. It’s about putting Cory Gardner in a really tough series of votes so he has to defend him in November of this fall.
HANNITY: I think you are right, everything is through the prism of politics, especially there are 299 days to go until the American people get to make the final decision. It’s up to them and they can shock the world again and I hope Trey Gowdy in fact that that happens. Let me ask you this question and it’s a legal one constitutionally. Constitutionally it’s the sole role of the House of Representatives to impeach. Is it the sole role of the Senate to put the trial on. We have a role for the the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, he pro-sides. Now the House managers will present their case. Now, they are trying to have a redo and get the Senate to do the job that they couldn’t do in the House. What is your reaction? What would you tell Republican Senators tonight?
GOWDY: Same thing I told them in the op-ed. It’s Adam Schiff’s job, if he thinks the testimony of John Bolton is so indispensable then he should have subpoenaed him and the same with Mick Mulvaney and Mike Pompeo and Rudy Giuliani. The Senate’s is to deliberate, it is not to investigate and then deliberate, because if that were true we wouldn’t need the House. Schiff was in such a hurry, keep in mind, all your viewers have to go to court if they have a disagreement with a fellow citizen. House Republicans had to go to court to get documents in fast and furious. We had to go fight Adam Schiff in court to find out who funded the dossier. So we all know how to get to the court house. Schiff didn’t want to go to court. He wants the Senate to call the very witnesses that he didn’t have the courage to call himself. And that’s not their job. The good news is the senators that I talked to on a regular basis under the leadership of Mitch McConnell are not falling for Nancy Pelosi’s trick. She can send them and they’ll do what they want. But they are not moved by this three-week pause that she has engaged in.