Cruz on House impeachment inquiry: ‘This is ‘kangaroo court’

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Sunday dismissed the allegations House Democrats have made against President Trump and characterized the continuing impeachment inquiry as a baseless partisan attack. 

“This is a kangaroo court in the House,” Cruz said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“They’re going to impeach not because they have the evidence but because they hate the president,” he added. 

{mosads}Cruz added that even if the House votes to impeach Trump, he does not expect the Republican-controlled Senate to vote to remove the president from office. 

“It’s going to go to the Senate, it’s going to go nowhere. And I think the American people know this is a waste of time and this is Democrats putting on a circus,” Cruz said. 

Cruz also argued with NBC’s Chuck Todd over the basis for impeachment as described in the Constitution. 

Cruz said Democrats said in their 55-page report release Saturday that the president does not have to violate a law to be impeached.

“What garbage, what nonsense,” Cruz said. 

“That is exactly why the impeachment was written into the Constitution. That’s exactly why the phrase ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ is in there because they did it before they even wrote our laws, sir,” Todd responded.

“What is a misdemeanor?” Todd asked Cruz. 

“High crimes and misdemeanors was a term of art that the framers used,” Cruz said.

He added that the report is the House Democrats showing their “tell,” as in poker, because they can’t prove bribery or that a law had been violated. 

“Just a few weeks ago their talking point was ‘bribery, bribery, bribery.’ They’re now admitting they can’t prove a crime, they can’t prove a law was violated and here’s why: any president any administration is justified in investigating corruption,” Cruz said. 

Democrats have not backed down from their allegations against the president’s wrongdoing. House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” there is a “rock solid-case” against Trump.