Posted on 01/26/2021 8:29:16 AM PST by Red Badger
A faction of Republican senators aim to defuse former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial before it even starts.
The plan was presented by Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, in a short tweet thread Monday evening after the House impeachment managers delivered to the Senate an article charging Trump with inciting an insurrection in connection to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"I will work with other like-minded Republican senators to challenge the constitutionality of this vindictive #impeachment trial before it begins," Johnson said.
"On January 6 we collectively acknowledged it was not wise for Congress to overrule the wishes of voters," he added. "Why would we think it makes sense to pre-emptively do so now?"
Ten Republicans joined Democrats in voting to impeach Trump a historic second time. Trump previously was impeached in December 2019 on two Ukraine-related articles of impeachment but was acquitted by the GOP-controlled Senate.
Trump has called his second impeachment a "hoax," and his allies expect claims of voter fraud will be raised once again. If convicted in the Senate, which requires a two-thirds vote, Trump also faces the prospect of being barred from holding office again. The trial is expected to begin the week of Feb. 8.
Johnson joined with a cadre of fellow Republican senators, including John Kennedy of Louisiana, Rick Scott of Florida, and James Risch of Idaho, in raising the possibility of stopping the trial to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Among their suggestions was appealing to the Supreme Court, according to Politico. But the Kentucky Republican's staff informed them that the Senate likely would not have standing to stop the impeachment trial in court.
Still, Kennedy argued during a Fox News appearance Monday night that the Supreme Court was a valid pathway. "I think a fair-minded, rational person would ask Congress to vote to file a declaratory judgment action to ask the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of impeaching a president who isn't president before we put the country through this," he said.
Johnson, who was one of 11 Republican senators who demanded Congress create a commission to audit the 2020 election ahead of the certification of the Electoral College results, argued last week that an impeachment trial of a former president is unconstitutional and put pressure on President Biden and other Democrats to oppose the effort.
"Democrats can't have it both ways: an unconstitutional impeachment trial & Senate confirmation of the Biden admin's national security team," Johnson tweeted Thursday. "They need to choose between being vindictive or staffing the administration to keep the nation safe. What will it be: revenge or security?"
“to ask the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of impeaching a president who isn’t president before we put the country through this,” he said.”
Roberts will declare it a tax and then say Congress is all out of latches and can’t stand up.
L
They should be demanding that Pelosi be held in CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS for Making Deliberate False Statements in her Fake Impeachment Articles
Roberts will declare they don’t have standing because they sit down when the Senate is in Chambers.
;-)
They won’t blow it up. They’ll just blow it.
1st rule is you never telegraph to your adversary what your intentions are....the repubs need to learn how to play poker.
Sheesh
Easy.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/110th-congress/senate-resolution/511/text
is Senate memo passed to confirm McCain as a Natural Born Citizen, “... born of American citizens on a US military base”.
Harris is an unnatural born native with no American citizen parents.
The Dems say...well that's because he's not the President.
The ultimate end of impeachment is removal so how can this trial not be moot?
Witch Trials come to mind.
“Kennedy argued during a Fox News appearance Monday night that the Supreme Court was a valid pathway”
Now where have I heard that before......OH YEAH
UGH, just do it if it's so rational.
Let’s impeach Clinton again.................................
And while you’re at it, try Harris for impeachment instead for not having American citizen parents like the Senate Memo above states John McCain had.
“how can this trial not be moot?”
The idea is to block Trump from being able to run for POTUS again.....I’m thinking the commie left is gonna declare him ineligible regardless of what happens. next stop...the General Flynn treatment and keeping him off the ballot.
They’re worried about Constitutionality of the impeachment?
Good Lord! They file the article of impeachment without a thorough investigation and now they’re going to have a “trial” where the presiding “judge” has already publicly declared Trump guilty. And then, the same “judge” gets to vote on guilt or dismissal. Oh, and of course, part of the duties of this “impartial judge,” who has publicly convicted Trump before the trial, gets to decide what, if any evidence will be allowed and who, if any, of the witnesses will be allowed to testify.
Yeah, I don’t think a little thing like Constitutionality of this vile action is a real concern of the Democrats.
But, but......Sen Schmanure, himself, sternly said on the floor of the Senate .........
"Senators will have to decide if they believe Donald John Trump incited an 'erection.' "
To this day, Sen Schmanure has not retracted his phallic flub.
Headline: Republican senators plot way to blow up Trump impeachment trial before it starts
That’s a very incendiary way to headline the story. How about: Republican senators strategize to keep the Senate from looking like fools during the impeachment trial of a private citizen
I agree...but it’s stupid. It’s not about that as much as destroying 75,000,000 Americans who support him.
And the Senate could try Obama for impeachment for the same reason as Harris - the Senate has stated that a Natural Born Citizen is one with American citizen parents. Although Obama was born of an American woman (of insufficient age to confer her citizenship to him), his father was married to a foreigner. Thus, ‘parents’, plural, was not observed, and the question of his citizenship remains to this day.
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