MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Republican state senators running for Congress in Wisconsin are standing by President Donald Trump as Democrats launch impeachment proceedings.

But Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and state Sen. Tom Tiffany said Tuesday they continue to support the president. Fitzgerald is running for the 5th Congressional District while Tiffany is a candidate in the 7th Congressional District.

Fitzgerald calls the impeachment inquiry a “political witch hunt.”

Tiffany says Democrats were needlessly conducting an impeachment inquiry.

Fitzgerald downplayed Trump’s call for China to investigate political rival and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Fitzgerald says Trump said it “off the cuff” and “I don’t know that anyone would take it seriously.”

The impeachment inquiry is also looking into efforts Trump made to get Ukraine to investigate Biden.

Fitzgerald says he thinks Trump’s telephone call with Ukraine’s president “was within the purview of what a president of the United States should be able to do with any foreign diplomat.”

Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC.