Representative Zoe Logfren (D., Calif.) asserted in an MSNBC interview on Monday that Senate Republicans will “rig” President Trump’s impeachment trial.
Logfren, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, is the only representative to have served on the committee in some capacity during all three modern presidential impeachments of Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and now Donald Trump. At the time of Nixon’s impeachment inquiry she worked as a staffer for then-congressman Don Edwards, who sat on the Judiciary Committee during the drafting of articles of impeachment against Nixon.
“Some of the things I’m hearing from the Senators [Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham] looks like they plan to rig the trial,” Logfren said. “President Trump is hoping to be exonerated. He will not be exonerated if everyone knows he rigged the trial.”
Logfren voted in 1998 against the articles of impeachment against Bill Clinton. At the time, she called the impeachment proceedings “a partisan lynching,” and cautioned against “a Republican overthrow of the government.” Impeachment proceedings against Trump, she asserts, are supported by evidence.
“If [the Senate is] not going to hear any evidence, if the senators announce they’ve already made up their minds…that doesn’t clear the President if he’s not convicted in the Senate,” Logfren said. “That’s just a political endeavor to protect a man who’s guilty of abusing his power.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) is attempting to set down rules for the expected trial of President Trump. He faces pressure from Republicans who want to call witnesses who haven’t been heard by House committees, such as Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Hunter Biden, son of former vice president Joe Biden. Democrats want to call their own witnesses, like acting White House chief-of-staff Mick Mulvaney.