Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said Monday that the votes to impeach President Barack Obama are simply not there in the U.S. Senate, even if Senate Republicans thought the maneuver necessary to stop what they see as an abuse of executive authority.
“We’re not gonna impeach the president of the United States. There just aren’t the votes there even if we believed that it was warranted,” McCain told host Mike Broomhead on Phoenix radio station KFYI.
The Arizona Republican instead encouraged electing a Republican Senate majority as a means of curbing the President’s “misbehavior.” He also said that impeachment talk among more conservative Republicans presents Democrats with an easy opportunity to fundraise against the GOP.
“I think the Democrats view [impeachment] as a good way to raise money to use against us, and I don’t want to let that happen,” he told Broomhead. “But I do believe the President has broken more laws by executive order — let me put it this way, I think he’s abused the executive branch in a way I don’t recall any other President doing that, by these executive orders that are just directly contrary to the law.”
McCain said he thought a lawsuit against Obama’s “abuse of power,” particularly with respect to Obamacare, was a better idea to combat the use of executive actions.
Separately, the sports-crazy senator weighed in on the disputed two-game suspension of NFL player Ray Rice for allegedly assaulting his then-fiancee.
“I can’t believe it. Frankly, I can’t believe it,” McCain said. “If you’re going to be suspended for the season for using a bad substance, which the only person you hurt is yourself, and then you knock someone unconscious that’s a woman — I don’t get it. I don’t get it.”
Listen below around the 5:30 mark:
This post has been updated.
