GOP senator: House Democrats need to ‘urinate or get off the pot’ on impeachment

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said Wednesday that House Democrats need to “urinate or get off the pot,” regarding their rolling debate on whether or not to start impeachment proceedings against President Trump.

Kennedy, during a speech where he denounced the slow pace of legislation on Capitol Hill, said House Democratic leadership has largely focused passing messaging bills and working to “harass the president.”

“The House leadership needs to get urinate or get off the pot. The leadership needs to indict the president of the United States, impeach him and let us hold a trial. He won’t be convicted,” Kennedy said on the Senate floor.{mosads}

“Or they need to go ahead and hold in contempt every single member of the Trump administration so we can move those issues into the court system and go back to doing the people’s business,” Kennedy continued.

The GOP senator added that if Congressional Democrats go to court with Trump officials it could be a “zero-sum game,” that will either result in reduced congressional authority if lawmakers lose or, if they win, lead to fewer people wanting to run for president.

“Either the administration will win, in which case the oversight authority of the United States Congress will be undermined or the House leadership will win in which case no American with a brain above a single cell will want to run for the president of the United States,” Kennedy said.

His speech comes after a planned meeting between Trump and Democratic lawmakers on finding a $2 trillion infrastructure deal imploded on Wednesday after Trump abruptly walked out of the meeting.

Trump cut off infrastructure talks with congressional Democratic leaders after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) accused him of being engaged in a “cover up.” The president then lit into Democrats and declared he would not work with them until their investigations are over. 

Trump, speaking to reporters in the Rose Garden, demanded that Democrats “get these phony investigations over with” before talks resume.”

Getting a bipartisan infrastructure deal was one of the few areas of potential bipartisan agreement for Trump and Congress amid a widening partisan gap on Capitol Hill.

Leadership and the administration failed to get a budget caps deal on Tuesday after lawmakers initially appeared optimistic. And a disaster relief bill is facing a last-minute snag over immigration despite the Memorial Day recess looming next week.

Kennedy added on Wednesday that Trump and House Democrats should should “sit down and talk” out their differences.

“Not talk like 8-year-olds in the back of a minivan fighting,” he said, “but talk constructively about how their behavior could impact important institutions in this country and work it out.”