HARTFORD, Conn. _ U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy ripped Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday, saying it is shocking that McConnell intends to be coordinating the upcoming impeachment trial with President Donald Trump's lawyers.
"I think it's stunning that Mitch McConnell is openly advertising he's coordinating with the White House to rig the trial in Trump's favor," Murphy told reporters at the state Capitol complex. "If Mitch McConnell doesn't believe what the president did is impeachable, that's up to him. But for him to be crowing on national television that he's going to be coordinating every step of this trial with Donald Trump, I think, is an abdication of his responsibility."
Murphy was referring to recent statements made by McConnell in which he bluntly stated that he would consult with Trump's lawyers before the trial is expected to begin in early January.
"He's not the RNC chairman," Murphy said. "He's the majority leader of the United States Senate _ and he's supposed to be running a fair trial that not only gives the president a chance to make his case but also gives the House impeachment managers the opportunity to make their case."
Murphy said he has spoken to several Republican senators "who are very concerned with the president's conduct" as the trial approaches. He would not name them publicly.
"I admit it's unlikely there is going to be a large number of Republicans voting for impeachment, but I don't think we should assume from the outset that none of them will take a fair look at the facts," Murphy said.
McConnell has predicted that no Republican senators would vote in favor of impeachment.
Connecticut state Republican Chairman J.R. Romano had a strongly different view, saying Democrats have put forward a weak case for Trump's impeachment.
"This has been a sham from the beginning," Romano said Monday. "They have no evidence. They have nothing. ... It's an embarrassment how the Democrats have completely ignored standard operating procedure. They have members of Congress leaving their party. They're grasping and simply putting on a spectacle.
"Where was Chris Murphy's critique on the House Democrats when they wouldn't allow Republicans to call witnesses? They're allowed to break the rules?"
Romano said Democrats are moving forward with impeachment because "they're losing the possibility of winning in 2020."
The nation, as well as Congress, has been split over impeachment. For months, lawmakers have predicted that Trump would be impeached in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives while he would not be convicted by the Republican-controlled Senate.
A new poll by Quinnipiac University, released Monday, showed that 45% believe that Trump "should be impeached and removed from office," compared to 51% who opposed impeachment. Those results are the same as one week ago. The poll showed, however, that since public hearings began in Washington, D.C., the public's opposition to impeachment has grown stronger.
At the same time, Trump reached a tie for his best job approval ratings since taking office _ at 43%. In a poll released Oct. 23, for example, his job approval ratings was 38% among registered voters, while 58% of those polled disapproved of the job that Trump is doing, according to the national poll.
A Fox News poll Sunday said 54% of those polled want Trump impeached. Of those, 50% want Trump removed from office, while an additional 4% wanted Trump impeached by the House but not removed by the Senate. Overall, 41% said he should not be impeached at all. The poll's margin of error was plus or minus three percentage points.
Trump blasted the poll in a message on Twitter, saying, "The @foxnewsPolls, always inaccurate, are heavily weighted toward Dems. So ridiculous _ same thing happened in 2016. They got it all wrong. Get a new pollster!'"
