House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler said Sunday all Senate Republicans who voted to acquit President Donald Trump during his impeachment trial were “corrupt.”
Speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union,” Nadler repeatedly called Senate Republicans corrupt for failing to remove the president and investigate allegations of malfeasance. His remarks came after Attorney General William Barr dramatically ousted U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, who was heading investigations into Trump and his allies, and after former national security adviser John Bolton offered damning new allegations about the president in his soon-to-be released book.
Tapper asked if Nadler agreed with calls to impeach Barr, and the New York Democrat responded tersely that to do so would be a waste of time.
“We have a corrupt Republican majority in the Senate, which will not consider impeachment no matter what the evidence and no matter what the facts,” Nadler said.
During Trump’s January impeachment trial, Senate Republicans voted largely on party lines to acquit the president of obstructing Congress and abusing his power. (Utah Sen. Mitt Romney voted to convict Trump on one count.)
When Tapper asked whether Nadler considered all Republicans who voted to acquit Trump corrupt, the congressman replied: “I think in the sense of being corrupt against the interest of the country, yes.”
Nadler also laid into Senate Republicans for not summoning Bolton to testify about his experiences in the White House after his unceremonious ouster in September. Leaked excerpts of Bolton’s book allege the president’s behavior that led to his articles of impeachment were merely part of a pattern of corrupt behavior. Bolton argued that had House Democrats focused on the president’s dealings with numerous foreign leaders, the impeachment effort could have gone differently.
Bolton was widely panned for refusing to testify before Congress, with critics saying he saved details to promote book sales. The Trump administration has tried to stop the release of his book, claiming Bolton disclosed classified information.
“He refused to testify before the House,” Nadler said. “And the Senate, of course, was never going to call him because the Senate Republicans were not interested in any evidence. As I said, they were corrupt in that respect.”