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'People Do Things. Things Happen,' GOP Senator Says of Trump Soliciting Foreign Election Interference

Sen. (R-Ala.), who was sworn in as an “impartial juror” for President Trump’s impeachment trial, appeared on ABC’s This Week on Sunday and ho-hummed the subject of Trump’s solicitation of foreign election interference.

Host George Stephanopoulos asked Shelby: “Do you think it was proper for the president to solicit foreign interference in our election?”

Shelby first responded by saying that he doesn’t know if Trump soliciting foreign interference “has been actually proven.”

To this, Stephanopoulos rightly pointed out that the entire world watched Trump, on national television, last year ask Ukraine and China to investigate presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Shelby then said, “Well, those are just statements, political. They make them all the time.”

Stephanopoulos then asked, “So, it’s OK?”

Shelby replied: “I didn’t say it was OK. I said people make them — people do things. Things happen.”

Stephanopoulos then made a distinction that Shelby either chose to ignore or that did not come to mind, saying, “Well, this is the president of the United States.”

Shelby continued to minimize the situation, saying, “Well, still the president of the United States is human. And he’s going to make mistakes of judgment and everything else.”

Finally, Shelby said that at this point he agrees with lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who is assisting Trump’s defense team, that the articles of impeachment do not rise to the “standard of an impeachable offense.” Shelby added, “But I still think we should wait and see what comes out in the trial itself.”