EXCLUSIVE: @SenAlexander says he thinks what the president did “was improper.” #MTP Sen. Alexander: “The only question left is who decides what to do about that.” @ChuckTodd : “Well, who decides what to do about that?” Sen. Alexander: “The people." https://t.co/e2zuGVVrTa pic.twitter.com/EAkb08kJCx

During a portion of an interview set to air on Sunday’s broadcast of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) defended his vote against additional witnesses in the Senate’s impeachment trial by stating that he didn’t need more evidence to conclude President Trump’s actions were “wrong” but that they were “a long way from treason, bribery, high crimes, and misdemeanors.”

Alexander said, “Well, I mean, if you have eight witnesses who say someone left the scene of an accident, why do you need nine? I mean, the question for me was, do I need more evidence to conclude that the president did what he did? And I concluded no.”

He added that President Trump “called the president of Ukraine and asked him to become involved in investigating Joe Biden” and “at least, in part, he delayed the military and other assistance to Ukraine in order to encourage that investigation. Those are the two things he did. I think he shouldn’t have done it. I think it was wrong.”

Alexander then stated, “It struck me, really for the first time, early last week, that we’re not just being asked to remove the president from office. We’re saying, tell him he can’t run in the 2020 election, which begins Monday in Iowa.”

Alexander added that he likely would have come to the same conclusion even if it wasn’t an election year. Because “what he did is a long way from treason, bribery, high crimes, and misdemeanors. I don’t think it’s the kind of inappropriate action that the framers would expect the Senate to substitute its judgment for the people in picking a president.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett