Democratic New York Congressman Gregory Meeks told CNN’s Chris Cuomo that contrary to accepted wisdom, the Senate very well could convict and remove President Donald Trump if the House of Representatives were to impeach him.

It has become commonplace for political journalists to state, as fact, that the Republican-controlled Senate will never vote to convict and remove Trump. But in an interview on Friday night’s edition of Cuomo PrimeTime, Meeks disputed that even as he tamped down on the impeachment fever that’s sweeping his House colleagues.

“No one wants to get rid of the guy that’s the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue right now more than me, and I’m sure Speaker Pelosi, and others,” Meeks said, adding “What we want to do is make sure that we dot our ‘I’s and cross our ‘T’s, and get every evidence, all of the evidence that will go so that when we do impeach, if we get to that impeachment point, we can make sure he’s also convicted.”

He went on to echo other Democrats who say that the House is already essentially conducting an impeachment investigation, and warned that premature actio could wind up helping Trump electorally.

“But here’s the thing, you’re going to lose the case anyway,” Cuomo said. “Because unlike in a courtroom, this is just votes, Congressmen. And with all due respect … the House looks for the fact, and the Senate tries the case. You’re going to lose in the Senate, it doesn’t matter what you put in front of them.”

“There could be a vote of conference conscience and they’ll have to own it,” Cuoo conceded.

“What I think is, I think there’s things that are so substantial about this president that if we really uncover them, there are many senators that are in close senate races also, and let’s confront them with that,” Meeks said, rattling off areas of potential vulnerability for Trump in House investigations.

“And then it goes smack into the face of those senators, and I will refer you back to Nixon,” Meeks said. “You know, Nixon, the Republicans were solidly behind Nixon until such time they uncovered something that they hadn’t seen before.”

Support for impeaching Nixon was in the minority until days before his resignation, while a recent Fox News poll showed more Americans — 47 percent — supporting impeachment that opposing it (45 percent).

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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