McConnell: Senators' impeachment role is "nothing like the job of jurors in the legal system"

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell argued Friday on the Senate floor that senators' role in an impeachment proceeding is "nothing like the job of jurors in the legal system."

"That is why the Constitution puts the impeachment trial in this place. Not because senators should pretend they are uninformed, unopinionated or disinterested in the long-term political questions that an impeachment of the president poses — but precisely because we are informed, we are opinionated and we can take up these weighty questions."

Flashback: McConnell's statement tracks with the position he expressed last month — when he stated that he is not an "impartial juror" and called impeachment "a political process."

Go deeper: Inside the McConnell-Trump impeachment trial playbook