Blackburn charges Bredesen 'reliable vote' on Trump impeachment; Bredesen calls it scare tactic

Phil Bredesen and Marsha Blackburn
Phil Bredesen and Marsha Blackburn

NASHVILLE - Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn is charging that if Tennessee voters elect Democratic rival Phil Bredesen, the former governor will be a "reliable vote" in any would-be Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.

"The contrast could not be more clear between my opponent and me," the Brentwood Republican said in a statement as she vowed to be a strong supporter of Trump and his agenda.

But Bredesen, a former governor, calls raising the spectre of impeachment "more of a hobgoblin" aimed at scaring off Tennessee Republican and independent voters who he says are attracted to his moderate policy views.

"Impeachment ought to be truly about high crimes and misdemeanors and not a political act," Bredesen said in a recent interview as he voiced skepticism that Democrats, who now have 49 seats in the 100-member chamber, will win a majority in the Nov. 6 election.

Even if the party won a slender Senate majority and a Democratic-controlled House were to impeach Trump, Bredesen said, Senate Democrats certainly wouldn't have the required two-thirds super majority of 67 votes required to convict the president on any House article of impeachment.

As Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in 2016 continues, Trump and congressional Republicans on the campaign trail have increasingly raised the risk of his impeachment should Democrats win control of the House and Senate in the Nov. 6 midterm election.

Blackburn and Bredesen, meanwhile, are locked in an increasingly tightening contest. A NBC News poll released last week shows Bredesen leads her by two percentage points, a statistical dead heat given the survey's margin of error.

Some Democrats are indeed pushing impeachment hard, among them Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis who is cosponsoring five articles of impeachment in the House. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have sought to downplay impeachment talk.

But the GOP and Blackburn are seizing on Schumer's recent response to a shouted impeachment question during a New York City parade as evidence for their assertions.

"The sooner the better," Schumer replied speaking through a bullhorn as he walked by a sidewalk crowd, a video clip shows. Pressed about when, the senator added: "We got to get a few Republicans. The Democrats are on your side."

Schumer spokesman Matt House later told Politico that Schumer misunderstood the question, believing it referred to the pending confirmation battle over Trump's U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, and not directed at impeachment.

"After a number of questions along the parade route about the fate of the President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, the senator believed he was being asked, 'When will you defeat Trump?' and responded, 'the sooner the better,' noting that we need Republicans to defeat the nomination," House told the news site.

The Schumer spokesman said as Schumer "has said many times and continues to believe, talk of impeachment is premature, and special counsel Mueller's investigation should be allowed to continue without any interference."

Blackburn said "the good people of Tennessee overwhelmingly elected President Trump, and they support his work to cut taxes, rebuild the military, care for our veterans and nominate constitutionalist justices and judges who won't legislate from the bench.

"Impeachment is the furthest thing from their mind," Blackburn continued. "Phil Bredesen's campaign is bought and paid for by Chuck Schumer and he will be a reliable vote to impeach the President."

Bredesen spokeswoman Alyssa Hansen said the former governor "has been very clear from Day 1 that he is focused on Tennessee, not D.C. games."

Bredesen said in an earlier Times Free Press interview that although Republicans keep raising Senate Democratic control as a "horrific thing that if I'm elected will cause to happen, I honestly and genuinely don't think it's possible. I expect to be a minority in the Senate."

While it is "mathematically possible" for Democrats to gain a simple majority, Bredesen acknowledged, "there are so many things that have to fall into place. You got to hang on to every seat you have, Democrats, [and] every seat they have in these places where Trump won, in some cases handily."

Then, he said, the party would have to win all three open seats, including the Tennessee seat held by retiring Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Chattanooga.

"So I just don't see that's an issue," Bredesen said. "That's more of a hobgoblin I think the other side is throwing up as a reason not to [vote for him]. When it comes to impeachment, I think people are getting way out ahead of themselves on that issue."

The Russia probe is ongoing and Mueller will eventually release his report, Bredesen said, and "I presume the House will take a look at that and see if there's anything in it that warrants anything as dramatic as impeachment."

Citing his belief in the "high crimes and misdemeanors" impeachment standard set by the U.S. Constitution, Bredesen called House impeachments of President Andrew Johnson of Tennessee in 1868 and President Bill Clinton in 1998 a "political act."

"And," he added, "you know we should get beyond that."

Following their House impeachments, both Johnson and Clinton were later acquitted by the Senate on all articles following Senate trail, although Johnson narrowly avoided removal over one article by a single vote. Clinton was acquitted of two articles in 1999.

If Democrats did win a House majority and impeach Trump, Bredesen said, "I would treat my responsibility there the same as I would if I were called for a jury duty. Which is, you know, you've got go into something like that, kind of erase your mind and say you're going to listen to the evidence as presented and make a decision based on it.

"I certainly wouldn't prejudge it either way and so on," he added. "But I think that's, even in the consideration of that, it's quite a ways down the road. And the bar for conviction for impeachment is pretty high. It's not something that depends on 52 or 53 Democrats."

Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow on Twitter @AndySher1.

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