Sen. Joe Manchin (R-WV) warned that the push by Democrats to impeach President Donald Trump with less than two weeks left on his term is "ill-advised."
Baier asked "Is there any scenario that you see where the US Senate would try and convict President Trump?"
Manchin told Fox News' Brett Baier "I don't see that. There'll be 48 still, 48 Democrats until we seat [Sen.] Warnock and Senator Ossoff, so until that happens, you need 67 votes, I think my arithmetic that means we have 19 Republicans.
"I don't see that and I think the House should know that also. We've been trying to send that message over, they know the votes aren't there, you would think that they would do that.
"I think this is so ill-advised trying to heal the country, trying to be the president of all the people, when we're going to be so divided and fighting again. Let the judicial system do its job, Brett.
"And then, we're a country of the rule of law, that's the bedrock of who we are. Let that take it's place, let the investigations go on, let the investigations go forth, and then we'll go from there.
"There's no rush to do the impeachment now, we can do it later if it's necessary."
Manchin said that if impeachment were necessary it could be taken up at a later date, and did not need to be rushed through. An impeachment post Trump's term in office would obviously not remove him from office, but it would prevent him from running for a future term.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appears to have the votes necessary in the House to vote for impeachment, but then the articles would have to go to the Senate, where they are unlikely, in the Senate's current configuration, to be approved.
Joe Manchin to @BretBaier on Fox News tonight on House impeachment effort: “Ill advised.”
— Brit Hume (@brithume) January 11, 2021
Manchin had previously been criticized by Trump for his support of impeachment inquiries. Trump wrote on Twitter on Feb, 7, 2020 that he was "very surprised and disappointed that Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia voted against me on the Democrat's totally partisan Impeachments Hoax."
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