Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Tuesday put some distance between himself and President Donald Trump as veteran diplomat Bill Taylor delivered damning testimony to the House Intelligence Committee about the president’s actions in holding up aid to Ukraine.

CBS News’ Nancy Cordes reports that McConnell denied the president’s claim that the Kentucky senator described Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “perfect” and “innocent.” Cordes then asked McConnell if that meant Trump was lying about their interactions.

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“You’d have to ask him,” McConnell replied.

A couple weeks ago, @realDonaldTrump said that @senatemajldr told him that his call w/President Zelensky was “perfect” and “innocent”. But when I asked McConnell about that just now, he said he never spoke to the President about it. So was Trump lying? “You’d have to ask him.” — Nancy Cordes (@nancycordes) October 22, 2019

McConnell also dismissed any idea that he would bury an impeachment trial in the Senate if the House of Representatives votes to impeach the president.

“If this were to come over from the House, I’m sure Senator Schumer and I would sit down and discuss coming to an agreement on a process,” he said. “On the implementation, the balls and strikes, if you will, are called by the Chief Justice.”

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