Posted on 01/13/2021 1:45:28 PM PST by The Pack Knight
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has rejected a plan to reconvene the Senate in an emergency session to hold trial over an impeachment article against President Trump in the House.
McConnell press secretary Doug Andres confirmed a report that the Kentucky Republican would not sanction such a move on Wednesday.
Without the emergency session, the Senate is due back in session on Jan. 19., so McConnell’s decision all but kills a Democrat-led effort to oust Trump from office before his term is up and President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on Jan. 20. A trial over the impeachment article is unlikely to conclude within such a short time.
Democrats have proposed holding the trial over Trump’s impeachment well-into Biden’s presidency. Michael Luttig, a former judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, slammed the idea on Tuesday, asserting that impeaching and removing a president after he left office is “unconstitutional.”
“It appears that even if the House of Representatives impeaches President Trump this week, the Senate trial on that impeachment will not begin until after Trump has left office and President-Elect Biden has become president on Jan. 20,” Luttig wrote in The Washington Post. “That Senate trial would be unconstitutional.”
Luttig continued:
Once Trump’s term ends on Jan. 20, Congress loses its constitutional authority to continue impeachment proceedings against him — even if the House has already approved articles of impeachment.Therefore, if the House of Representatives were to impeach the president before he leaves office, the Senate could not thereafter convict the former president and disqualify him under the Constitution from future public office.
The reason for this is found in the Constitution itself. Trump would no longer be incumbent in the Office of the President at the time of the delayed Senate proceeding and would no longer be subject to “impeachment conviction” by the Senate, under the Constitution’s Impeachment Clauses. Which is to say that the Senate’s only power under the Constitution is to convict — or not — an incumbent president.
On Monday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), a moderate, criticized the ongoing impeachment push and noted that any impeachment article passed in the House will likely not have enough support in the Senate.
“I think, my arithmetic, that means we have 19 Republicans. I don’t see that. And I think the House should know that also. We have been trying to send that message over. They know the votes aren’t there. You would think that they would do that,” Manchin said on Monday.
“I think this is so ill-advised for Joe Biden to be coming in, trying to heal the country, trying to be the president of all the people, when we’re going to be so divided and fighting again. Let the judicial system do its job,” he added. “And then, we’re a country of the rule of law. That’s the bedrock of who we are. Let that take its place. Let the investigations go on. Let the evidence come forth, and then we will go forward from there. There’s no rush to do this impeachment now. We can do it later if they think it’s necessary.”
For nothing? That is a very big something.
Even better would be the issuance of a statement by ALL the Republican Senators to shove the partisan impeachment up their prospective asses !!!
Primary their asses
This impeachment is NOT about Trump running in 2024. He will be 78 years old.
This is about shutting Trump up because what he is about to expose on these ANTI American POS Demonrats and RINOS
Seems rather inconsistent with McConnell being “pleased” by impeachment as the New York Times’ and Fox’s “anonymous source” claimed.
Not really. China Mitch and the GOP SEante doing what tjeu does best here: nothing. He’s trying to protect GOP Senators like Tim Scott who are up in 2022.
You know that’s not happening.
Thank Trump Nation for this, and Trump Nation alone.
Trump probably would not have run again regardless, he will be 78 yrs old in 2024 he doesn’t need this sh*t anymore, after what the left put him through for four years
I will still vote them all out, and let God sort it out.
+
I don’t care what this POS mcconnell does or doesn’t do at this point. And that goes for all the gop, except maybe 2 or 3. I will never support any of them, ever. They sold America out, PERIOD!
Thanks. Too bad none of them live in a state where I could take the pleasure of voting for their primary opponent.
I think they’ve been inundated with RNC cancellations and phone calls today. Polling shows 86% of trump voters and 75% of republicans are against this vile vengeful act
If Mitch were to allow this political hit job to move forward in the Senate, the only thing left to do would be issuing last rites and ordering the wreath.
Katco in NY thinks he’s safe but if the Dem working party didn’t siphon from the Dem votes he will be vulnerable if he loses votes.
John Katko
Republican Party
53.2%
182,567
Dana Balter
Democratic Party
43%
147,638
Steven Williams
Working Families Party
3.9%
13,232
By allowing the current Senate’s term to expire, he shifts blame to Chuck Shumer, who almost assuredly will bring it before his members at some point.
Mitch gets what he wants without being held responsible.
They cannot remove Trump and cannot bar him from running for future office under the US Constitution.
Game over.
Regardless, I don’t doubt Roberts will let Schumer try to convict POTUS.
Nor can they beat him in a fair election
Joe Manchin: “ . . .we’re a country of the rule of law.”
Now that’s a knee-slapper.
The rats have burned all the bridges to “reconciliation.”
There is no middle ground.
Never Biden. Never our President. Ever.
The operative phrase is “New York Times’ and Fox’s “anonymous source” claimed.”
I missed the memo that says I’m supposed to believe the NY Times about, well Anything.
“There’s no rush to do this impeachment now. We can do it later if they think it’s necessary.”
Idiot!
You cannot constitutionally impeach a private citizen. Once Donald Trump leaves office, he is no longer president. The Constitution states “upon conviction by two thirds of the Senate, the president shall be removed from office” How do remove a president from office when he is no longer a president?
Wanna bet these a-holes are gonna attempt this again in 2024, if Trump runs and wins the presidency?
Kudos, kudos, kudos. The turtle is the general of hosts. The world is full of his machinations. Don’t trust him for a minute, but keep in mind on which side his bread is buttered, because he will do the right thing, provided it serves his interests. That is a good thing about inveterate, cynical politicians
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