Leaving office, Toomey calls Trump's Jan. 6 actions 'an egregious offense to the Constitution'
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - In a very candid exit interview with KDKA political editor Jon Delano, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey had some of his strongest words about former President Donald Trump.
The senator leaves office in just five weeks after 18 years in Congress.
Pat Toomey is one of the most fiscally conservative senators in Washington with a strong independent streak that led the Republican to vote to remove Donald Trump from office shortly after the Capitol attack.
"For me, it was not a close call," says Toomey.
Echoing the conclusions of the Jan. 6 committee investigating the attack on the Capitol, Toomey could not be clearer.
"I have absolutely no doubt that President Trump intended to thwart the outcome of the election," he says.
Toomey believes Pennsylvania played a key role in the president's thinking on Jan. 6.
"On Jan. 6, the reason why he didn't want to intervene and call off the mob was because he wanted to delay the process of certifying the election because he thought at the time he was fairly close to persuading the legislature of Pennsylvania and several other states to pass legislation creating a new slate of electors who would vote for him," says Toomey.
Toomey has no regrets or second thoughts about his vote to convict and remove Trump from office for trying to overrule the vote of the people, including Pennsylvanians.
"That's just beyond outrageous, Jon. That is as an egregious offense to the Constitution as I can think of -- to knowingly thwart the outcome of an election so you can stay in power. And I think that's exactly what happened there," says Toomey.
"I felt like I had no choice. If that's not an impeachable offense, then I'd have a hard time thinking of what is."
As for whether Trump should now be prosecuted criminally for his actions, Toomey says he's not a lawyer or prosecutor, adding, "I just don't know enough about the facts and circumstances."
But given the history of special prosecutors investigating Nixon, Clinton and Trump, the senator is skeptical of this process.
"We've seen special counsels run amok before so I'm not enthusiastic about this," he says.
