Long Islanders sound off on upcoming Trump impeachment trial

As President Donald Trump's impeachment trial is set to begin Tuesday, reaction to it is mixed here on Long Island.
Stephen Pearl, of Hicksville, says the accusations against the president didn't warrant an impeachment.
"This is not impeachable. This is just the Democrats, they just can't get over the fact that he's there. And they want him out,” he says.

Michael Silberg, of Jericho, says it's good that the president is being put on trial. He doesn't believe Trump will be removed from office.

"The Senate's not going to hear any of it, there's nothing that's going to come out of it, it's all Republican Senate. It's a little bit unfortunate. It's good the Democratic process is working, at least to a certain degree,” says Silberg.

Local lawmakers are also waiting for the trial to start. Democratic Rep. Kathleen Rice says she wants the Senate to call witnesses to testify during the proceedings.

"I'm hoping that the Senate comes around and does what the majority of Americans want, which is they want to see the process, they want to hear witnesses testifying, both sides should be able to call them,” she says.

Republican Rep. Peter King says President Trump should not have been impeached, and hopes the trial is over quickly.

"I was against Bill Clinton's impeachment, I was against Donald Trump's impeachment, and I certainly hope the Senate is going to vote against removing him from office. You don't remove a president from office for policy differences or you don't like the way he did his job,” he says.