Amy Klobuchar Schools Meghan McCain on Impeachment

Just before the Thanksgiving holiday last week, Meghan McCain raged at The View co-host Joy Behar, arguing that the Democratic effort to impeach President Donald Trump would ultimately land him a second term in office. On Monday, she attempted to bring that fight to Democratic Senator (and 2020 presidential candidate) Amy Klobuchar. Klobucher wasn’t having it.

Rather than start with the 2020 race, Behar opened the interview by asking why Trump and his legal team would sit out this week’s House Judiciary hearings if he has nothing to hide. “If he were innocent, wouldn’t he want them to go?" 

“You would think so. You would think he would want to make his case,” Klobuchar answered before going on to make the case for why Trump’s “global Watergate” is just as damning as the actions that led to Richard Nixon’s resignation. 

“I mean, we don’t really have a choice here when you look at what this conduct was,” she added. “And the people in the House and now later, the people in the Senate are going to have to make a decision if they put their country first or do they put their political interests and their party first?” 

Then came the third degree from Meghan McCain, who wanted to know if Klobuchar, as a “former prosecutor,” believes Trump “committed a crime.” 

“Again, I want to look at all the evidence,” Klobuchar replied. “I am the one that has said this is impeachable conduct, and that I’m a former prosecutor, as you note, and you have to look at each count, but I think this is very serious what happened here. And it will come over to the Senate.”

“And remember, this isn’t a criminal proceeding,” she continued. “It is actually a decision under the Constitution about whether or not he should be removed from office.” 

McCain kept pushing, however, telling the senator, “Part of the problem, though, is that I think there was an idea that Democrats have gotten out over their skis with Mueller and that the American public and, you know, because you live in the real world and you represent, you know, a Midwestern state, that people are so inundated with so much information that they just think it’s a witch hunt, and that’s why Nancy Pelosi was hesitant to go through with it. So do you worry about Democrats getting over their skis a bit?” 

Without hesitation, Klobuchar responded, “No. Because I see what just happened in Kentucky, and what just happened in Virginia and what just happened in Louisiana, where we had Democratic candidates win. In fact, in two of the states, Kentucky and Louisiana, Donald Trump had been there the night before.” 

“I guess what I want to know is, where can we send him next?” Klobuchar asked with a smile.