But Mcconnell Is Just Going To Call All The Shots Right
So long as McConnell can keep his party together, yes, he will essentially call the shots for Trumps trial. And he has done that so far though on certain issues, he might find it more difficult.
The math of impeachment votes is somewhat unusual for the Senate. The vote on a final verdict, as mentioned, needs 67 yeses to pass. But measures before that can be approved by a simple majority. However, Vice President Pence, who can usually break ties in the Senate, is not expected to vote on any impeachment matters.
For McConnell to pass a partisan measure, hell need to keep 51 of the 53 Senate Republicans together. That would mean he needs to keep at least one of the expected trio of swing votes Sens. Collins, Lisa Murkowski , and Mitt Romney on his side.
Meanwhile, for Democrats to get a measure of their own passed, theyd likely need to win over four Republicans . In addition to the aforementioned trio, theyd need someone else. CNN has proposed several possibilities, but the incentives for partisanship are strong in the Senate.
And, to complicate things further, theres the question of the chief justice.
Overview Of Impeachment Process
- See also: Impeachment of federal officials
The United States Congress has the constitutional authority to impeach and remove a federal official from officeincluding the presidentif he or she has committed an impeachable offense. Impeaching and removing an official has two stages. First, articles of impeachment against the official must be passed by a majority vote of the U.S. House of Representatives. Then, a trial is conducted in the United States Senate potentially leading to the conviction and removal of the official.
In most impeachment trials, the vice president presides over the trial. However, in impeachment trials of the president, the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court presides. In order to remove the person from office, two-thirds of senators that are present to vote must vote to convict on the articles of impeachment.
Stacey Plaskett Addresses Emotional Toll Of Seeing Black Women Used In Trump Defense
“Those 43 who voted to acquit the president did so because they were afraid of him, because they were more interested in party and in power than they were in our country and in duty to their Senate oath,” she added.
Plaskett said Trump “will be forever tarnished” by the impeachment.
“I think it leaves him for all history our children and my grandchildren will see in history that this was the most despicable despot attempting to become a fascist ruler over a country that was founded in democracy,” she said.
President Biden said the attack on the Capitol “has reminded us that democracy is fragile.” Above, Biden speaks during a visit Thursday to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. Evan Vucci/APhide caption
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President Biden said the attack on the Capitol “has reminded us that democracy is fragile.” Above, Biden speaks during a visit Thursday to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.
President Biden responded to the Senate’s acquittal of Donald Trump on Saturday by reminding Americans that truth must be defended, saying the impeachment of the former president was a stark illustration of the danger posed to democracy by lies, misinformation and extremism.
And Biden said that although Trump was acquitted, his actions in the lead-up to the Jan. 6 insurrection were not “in dispute.”
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Louisiana Gop Votes To Censure Cassidy
Hours after Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana voted to convict former President Trump, the Louisiana Republican party executive committee unanimously voted to censure him.
“The Constitution and our country is more important than any one person,” Cassidy said in a brief video statement after the vote. “I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty.”
Cassidy is far from being anti-Trump, in fact, he voted with the president 89% of the time, according to the Louisiana Advocate.
Other Republicans who broke with the party in both the House and Senate have faced blowback from their state Republican parties. Congresswoman Liz Cheney, the third-highest ranking Republican in the House, was censured by the Wyoming GOP, and Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska also faces a censure vote.
Two Democratic Senators Call For Deposing Tuberville And Mccarthy
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse called for suspending the impeachment trial to depose Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. The Democrat from Rhode Island tweeted his suggestion on Friday night, as Tuberville and McCarthy had conversations with Mr. Trump on January 6.
Republican Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler confirmed in a statement on Saturday that McCarthy had told her about a conversation he had with Mr. Trump on January 6, when the former president told McCarthy that the rioters who had stormed the Capitol “are more upset about the election than you are.”
Tuberville spoke with Mr. Trump shortly after 2 p.m. on January 6, after Vice President Mike Pence had been evacuated from the chamber. It is unclear whether Tuberville spoke with Mr. Trump before the president sent a disparaging tweet about Mr. Pence at 2:24 p.m. Senator Mike Lee, who fielded the call, later claimed on Friday evening that the call between Tuberville and Mr. Trump happened at 2:30 p.m. However, Lee did not provide evidence of that timeline.
Whitehouse said in a tweet on Friday evening that the way to clear up confusion would be “to depose McCarthy and Tuberville under oath and get facts,” and ask the Secret Service to produce communications to the White House about Pence’s safety during the siege.
Democratic Senator Ed Markey expressed his agreement in a tweet on Saturday.
The Senate will vote on whether to call witnesses on Saturday.
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Trump Impeachment Prosecutors Set To Unveil New Evidence Against Ex
The second impeachment trial in the Senate for former President Trump will highlight previously undisclosed evidence related to the charge that he incited the Jan. 6 Capitol complex riot by his supporters, House aides said.
Those aides also said there will be evidence that Trump not only spent weeks laying the groundwork for the mob invasion of Congress by his fans but that he incited that riot even further after it began.
Aides suggested that there could be enough Republican senators needed to convict Trump after they hear such evidence, despite the vast majority of the GOP caucus having previously voted against holding the trial based on the argument that a former president cannot be tried by the Senate.
“Once they see that this President did in fact incite a violent insurrection in order to hold onto power, I think it very well may be the case that reluctant senators change their mind and vote to convict,” aides said.
“The House will establish at trial that President Trump merits conviction and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.” Dan Mangan
Mcconnell: Trump Is Practically And Morally Responsible For Provoking Capitol Riot
From CNN’s Adrienne Vogt
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called the Jan. 6 Capitol attack a disgrace.
“They did this because they had been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on Earth. Because he was angry. He had lost an election. Former President Trump’s actions preceded the riot were a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty,” McConnell said.
“There’s no question none that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it. The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their President,” he added.
McConnell said there were “wild myths” about election fraud, but he said he defended Trump’s right to bring any complaints to the legal system.
“As I stood up and said clearly at that time, the election was settled. It was over. But that just really opened a new chapter of even wilder, wilder and more unfounded claims,” he said. “The leader of the free world cannot spend weeks thundering that shadowy forces are stealing our country and then feign surprise when people believe him and do reckless things.”
Trump “did not do his job” to end the Jan. 6 violence, McConnell said.
McConnell called the Trump defense team invoking Trump’s voters during the impeachment trial “as a human shield against criticism.”
Watch:
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Schumer Says There Was Only One Correct Verdict In This Trial: Guilty
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took to the Senate floor following the vote to acquit Mr. Trump, contrasting the 45th president with the first person to hold the office, George Washington, and urging the American people to deliver justice, which he said the Senate failed to do.
“This trial was about the final acts of a president who represents the very antithesis of our first president and sought to place one man before the entire country, himself,” he said. “Let the record show, let the record show before God, history and the solemn oath we swear to the Constitution that there was only one correct verdict in this trial: guilty.”
Schumer said he prays that while justice was not done in the trial involving Mr. Trump, ” it will be carried forward by the American people who above any of us in this chamber determine the destiny of our great nation.”
Hearings And Investigations: Apriljuly 2019
- Nadler says redacted Mueller report might necessitate impeachment.
- House Judiciary Committee issues subpoena demanding the unredacted report and its underlying evidence.
- HJC issues subpoena for former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify on his statements as exhibited by the special counsel in his report.
- President Trump issues orders retroactively asserting executive privilege over all testimony given to the special counsel by McGahn and others given subpoenas by the HJC.
- Attorney General Barr threatens to boycott scheduled hearings and Nadler threatens a subpoena if he does.
- May 2: Barr boycotts hearings
- May 8: House Judiciary committee recommends Barr be held in contempt of Congress in a 24â16 vote for not complying with the subpoena.
- May 23: Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee introduces H.Res. 396, which is referred to the Rules committee.
- May 29:Robert Mueller addresses the nation on the Russia probe, saying: “the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing.”
- : House Judiciary committee announces a series of hearings related to the Mueller Report titled “Presidential Obstruction and Other Crimes”.
- Barr offers to resume negotiations on testimony and materials if the HJC cancels contempt citation. Nadler refuses.
- Former Trump aides Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson formally defy HJC subpoenas at the behest of the president.
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What Are High Crimes And Misdemeanors
Article II, Section 4 of the US Constitution details the impeachment power: The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
The more vague category of high crimes and misdemeanors has been treated as a sort of catch-all for either criminal activity or what Congress considers egregious abuse of office.
In 1868, Andrew Johnson was impeached for firing one of his Cabinet secretaries in violation of a law passed by Congress and also for insulting Congress. In 1974, Richard Nixon was headed toward being impeached for obstruction of justice and abuse of power related to the Watergate burglary cover-up, but he resigned before it could happen. And in 1998, Bill Clinton was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice for his effort to cover up his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
A violation of the criminal code by the president isnt technically necessary for impeachment. Historically, though, impeachment efforts that are wholly grounded in politics, without even a thin pretext of an actual crime, havent gotten very far.
Republicans Infuriated By Vote To Call Witnesses In Impeachment Trial
The Senate voted to allow for calling witnesses in the impeachment trial on Saturday, delaying the proceedings that were expected to conclude this afternoon by an unspecified period of time. Many Republicans lashed out in response to the vote, arguing that Democrats had made a mistake by extending the trial, even though five GOP senators joined all Democrats in voting to call witnesses.
Senator Ron Johnson appeared to be upset with Senator Mitt Romney, who voted to call witnesses, in the Senate chamber immediately after the vote. Johnson later told reporters that he was not angry with Romney, but with the vote itself.
Senator Kevin Cramer argued that the House impeachment managers had “unleashed a really, really, really awful situation” by calling for witnesses. He said that Republicans had been “gracious” to Democrats, but would work to block any legislation brought by Democrats if the trial was significantly delayed.
“I’d say that is over, from now on until such time as this is over. And if they want to make this into a 10 month ordeal or a two year ordeal, it’ll be without a single piece of legislation getting passed,” Cramer said.
Senator Joni Ernst said calling witnesses was a “tool of revenge.”
“If they want to drag this out, we’ll drag it out,” she said.
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After The 2018 Midterm Elections
On March 11, 2019, Nancy Pelosi said, Im not for impeachment, Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless theres something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I dont think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And hes just not worth it. No. I dont think he is. I mean, ethically unfit. Intellectually unfit. Curiosity wise unfit. No, I dont think hes fit to be president of the United States. She then scolded herself for coming across too negatively.
With the Democrats in control of the House, and with a direct impeachment inquiry deemed somewhat toxic, the work of investigations into Trumps possible crimes were divided into several committees while waiting for some outside force, such as the Mueller probe or the Southern District to force the Democratic leaderships hands.
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Could Trump Be Impeached Shortly After He Takes Office
It’s highly improbable, but law scholars and political junkies are speculating about it.
Darren Samuelsohn is a senior policy reporter for Politico.
Donald Trump isnât even the Republican nominee yet. But his incendiary rhetoric, most notably about killing the families of terrorists and bringing back torture, has critics on the right and the left discussing the most extreme of countermeasures at an unusually early point in the race.
âImpeachmentâ is already on the lips of pundits, newspaper editorials, constitutional scholars, and even a few members of Congress. From the right, Washington attorney Bruce Fein puts the odds at 50/50 that a President Trump commits impeachable offenses as president. Liberal Florida Rep. Alan Grayson says Trumpâs insistence on building a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, if concrete was poured despite Congressâs opposition, could lead down a path toward impeachment. Even the mainstream Republican head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently tossed out the I-word when discussing the civilian backlash if Trumpâs trade war with China led to higher prices on everyday items sold at WalMart and Target. On his radio show last month, Rush Limbaugh even put a very brisk timeline on it: âTheyâll be talking impeachment on day two, after the first Trump executive order,â he said.
âThe last thing you want to do is strike at the king and not chop the head off,â Fein warned.
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