On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Situation Room,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) coordinating with the White House about the upcoming Senate impeachment trial was “improper.”

Blumenthal said, “It is improper. He said not only is he coordinating but taking his cues from the White House. He seems to be abandoning all pretense or semblance of objectivity and independence. It’s also unprecedented. In every one of the past proceedings, Republicans and Democrats have worked together. Especially in the Clinton impeachment proceeding, there was cooperation between Daschle and Lott, the majority and minority leaders, to come up with a framework of procedures that was approved unanimously by the United States Senate. I think it’s really regrettable the majority leader is already undermining the credibility of this proceeding in the eyes of the American people.”

He added, “I think he should change the tone and substance of his approach. Realistically he is more than just the foreman of the jury as some of our House colleagues characterized him. The foreman of a jury has only one vote, and Mitch McConnell potentially controls a lot of votes through the sway and influence he has over his fellow Republicans. That’s why he should really take himself out of this coordination with the White House, meeting with lawyers. He’s undermining the credibility of the Senate, not just himself.”

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