Rounds: ‘Inquiry reaching for straws’

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HURON — Congressional Democrats have wanted to take down the Trump presidency since the day he took office, but despite the ongoing impeachment inquiry they have not identified an impeachable offense, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said Thursday.
“I think they’re really reaching for straws,” he said in a conference call with reporters.
The senator spoke from his home in Fort Pierre after he and his wife, Jean, made the seven-hour drive from the Mayo Clinic on Wednesday.
Jean Rounds underwent successful surgery so doctors could remove the remainder of a tumor. After several rounds of chemotherapy, doctors discovered that 98 percent of the tumor was dead.
As Rounds returns to Washington, D.C., in the coming days, Jean will be given time to heal from the surgery before beginning five weeks of radiation, he said.
“But the big part is, this surgery itself is completed now and we’re very thankful about how everything turned out,” Rounds said. “Things are moving in the right direction.”

He once again said they wanted to thank South Dakotans for their prayers and support.
The series of hearings that began Wednesday with the House Intelligence Committee are a distraction from business that should be the focus of Congress, such as the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement that he said has been languishing in the House.
Since his election to the Senate in 2014, Rounds has vehemently opposed continuing resolutions rather than agreements on federal appropriations. In a week, the country faces the possibility of another government shutdown unless a continuing resolution is approved.
If a resolution passes, the next deadline will come in December. He said he intends to vote against the continuing resolution unless he sees that good progress is being made in the appropriations process.
Too many needs like a pay raise for members of the armed forces and cyber security activities must be addressed, he said.
But, he added, “as usual, the Congress has kicked the can down the road.”
Meanwhile, Democrats have accused President Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors and bribery.
“They’re not talking about oversight, they’re talking about going for the jugular,” he said.
Oversight is done all the time by congressional committees, but people shouldn’t be able to tell if it’s being done by Republicans or Democrats, he said.
Oversight doesn’t have to be political in nature. It can be an appropriate government response to look at the operations of government, he said.
But Democrats are trying to take away a decision the people made in the last election, Rounds said.
“They’re trying to remove a president from office,” he said. “That normally would be done at the ballot box.”