Ted Cruz: Trump Impeachment Sets Standard That 'Every President Is Going To Be Impeached'
WASHINGTON (CBSDFW.COM) - Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is letting his opposition to President Donald Trump's impeachment be known as he believes it sets a "wrong" standard for the House and future presidents.
On Wednesday, House Democrats voted to impeach President Trump on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress that's centered on his pressure on Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. The process now moves to the Republican-controlled Senate.
When talking about the impeachment, Cruz said he believes Democrats moved forward with the process due to their disagreements with the president and that they are abusing "the constitutional standard."
"If this is the standard, what this means is every president is going to be impeached going forward if the House happens to be in the opposing party. That's wrong," Cruz told CBS 11 political reporter Jack Fink.
A Senate trial is expected to begin in January. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has expressed wanting to have a quick trial.
After the trial, the Senate will hold a vote on whether to remove President Trump from office.
Cruz offered his solution to the Democrats' issues with the president: win at the ballot box.
"The reason the House Democrats are doing this is they're far-left based, hate the president, disagreement with him politically. They wanted to impeach him the day he was elected. And they're mad at the American people for electing him," Cruz said. "If you have policy and political disagreements for someone, the remedy is to try and beat them at the ballot box, to try to beat them at an election."
At the start of the trial, Cruz said he expects the House managers to make their arguments and for the White House lawyers to make their defense. He then expects "a debate as to whether additional testimony is needed."
Cruz said he believes Trump should be able to call witnesses like Hunter Biden or the whistleblower in his defense.