You're listening to a podcast from the BBC World Service. This is Hard Talk with me, Stephen Sacker.

Thanks for downloading this edition of the program. I do hope you enjoy it.

My guest today is in his fourth year serving the people of Omaha, Nebraska, in the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress.

Before entering the political fray as a Republican,

Don Bacon had a distinguished military career, serving in combat in Iraq and ending his

Air Force career with the rank of general. Now he's on the front line of partisan politics,

a staunch defender of Donald Trump in the face of impeachment and a concerted

Democratic Party effort to remove him from office. The Senate trial of the president has become

yet another exercise in poisonous partisan politics. It's unlikely to end in a conviction,

but it is likely to have a major impact on U.S. politics in this presidential election year.

Will Republicans come to regret their unwavering loyalty to Donald J. Trump?

Well, Congressman Don Bacon joins me now on the line from Omaha, Nebraska. Welcome to Hard Talk.

Thank you, sir. It's a pleasure to be with you today. Let me begin with a simple proposition.

If Donald Trump violated American values and more specifically violated the U.S. Constitution,

he should be held to account, shouldn't he?

Any president that violates the Constitution and does high crimes or misdemeanors,

as it stated in the Constitution, should be impeached. But I do not think the president

has done the high crimes or misdemeanors. And I think this has been a totally partisan impeachment.

But yes, any president who violates our Constitution should be held responsible.

So given the importance of due process and given the fact that the House of Representatives

has approved articles of impeachment, How do you feel about a president

who calls this the greatest con job in the history of America, a total hoax?

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