The US Ambassador to New Zealand says his boss' political rivals can "do whatever they want" to try and take him down.
"It's a bloodsport," Scott Brown told Newshub Nation on Saturday morning, after a dramatic week in US politics.
Democrats have started inquiries into possible impeachment proceedings against US President Donald Trump, after a whistleblower claimed he'd asked the President of another country to investigate one of his toughest rivals.
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Brown told Newshub Nation host Simon Shepherd he wasn't aware of all the details of what's going on back home.
"You probably know more about it than me. You're a presenter, you're in the media. I'm not - I'm a diplomat now," the former Senator said.
"I've certainly seen what a lot of other folks have seen. I can say that we have three branches of government, and one of the roles of Congress is to be there as a check and balance, and make inquiries if they feel it's appropriate... That's part of the transparency of our government. It's all out there for everyone to see, to praise or criticise."
At this stage, Congress is gathering evidence. For example, on Saturday (NZ time) Democrats subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
"That's fine. That's part of the process," said Brown. "They can do whatever they want."
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Asked if it looked likely Trump was guilty and an impeachment would go ahead, Brown said he doesn't "have any knowledge on that, based on what I've read and what I'm seeing".
"With respect, I don't think it's clear at all. I know the President is one of the hardest-working men I've ever met. We have so many things that are happening of a positive nature. I tell people to divorce themselves from the personalities of any politician and just look at the facts - and the facts speak very loudly that it's a very successful term."
If impeachment proceedings go ahead, it'll be just the third time a US President has faced such a procedure, after Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. Both were acquitted. Richard Nixon resigned before proceedings could begin.
Despite US politics appearing from the outside to be in a state of permanent scandal since Trump's inauguration in 2017, Brown says it's always been chaotic.
"Our founding fathers wanted it to be messy. Democracy is messy. It's always messy. It's been messy since the President got involved. It was messy during times of President Obama, when I served in the Senate it was messy then."
Newshub.
