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.”
Nah, there are probably enough R’s, outgoing and otherwise, to convict. This way places any sort of conviction after Jan 20th when the Dem Senate majority can do as they wish.
Justice Roberts will do whatever Barack Obama tells him to do.
He doesn’t want Dershowitz to ask why the police requests for back up were ignored.
He is also is trying to save his dim buddies.
Biden isn’t trying to “heal the nation.” He plans to smash it.
That scum says he wants the senate to spend half its days on his stuff and the other half on impeaching and disqualifying his election opponent.
Biden is a pure race baiting pos.
So “moderate” Manchin says they can impeach later “if necessary “? How moderate of him.
I agree. Never took a dime of pay or a vacation in 4 years. You think Melania wilk still be married to him. She wouldn’t go for it either.
Or maybe he knew this was all silly nonsense to begin with.
Turtle putting out the statement that he was undecided on how he would vote if it came before the Senate and would let the law dictate, was his way of signaling he was distanced from Trump, but will not be the Jim Jones of the Republican party, knowing the law is entirely on Trumps side and so would vote no ultimately.
Because after a few years of what’s coming, Trump will start to look real good.
Absolutely. McConnell is smart. If he was MAGA instead of Swamp, Trump could have accomplished great things.
OTOH, If McConnell was MAGA, he would never have been voted by Repub Senators as Majority Leader.
OTOH, If McConnell was MAGA, he would have been President himself a long time ago, and we would never have had President Trump.
McConnell = Wasted talent. Truly.
Primary them with good America First candidates of every race and gender in 2022.
Dont agree with you on that.
I think Trump is going to stay involved and try to keep these corrupt scum bags from continuing the destruction of the country. He or his son will run in 2024.
Yeah why don’t they wait until late 2023 for the Republicans to disqualify their primary opponent, and Biden to disqualify his chief challenger.
Quite a system they have there.
[Seems rather inconsistent with McConnell being “pleased” by impeachment as the New York Times’ and Fox’s “anonymous source” claimed. ]
Good.
But we have 10 Republicans in the house who need to be primaried for siding with the impeachment.
Romney tops the primary list for his earlier vote on impeachment.
I think there are at least 3 senators who have voiced support for impeachment.Senators Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, Ben Sasse, of Nebraska, and Pat Toomey, of Pennsylvania. But I’m not positive. We need to confirm that they actually voiced support for impeachment.
You see ridiculous statements like that don’t add to anything.
He’s a jerk and he screwed Trump by not backing him with the electoral fraud.
But he’s not been one to say one thing and do another, like graham.
A little less self righteousness and a little more willingness to fight is what’s needed among some republican voters.
Very consistent with McConnell wanting to follow normal order.
Light ‘em up boys.
There are at least 10 turn coats. led by Liz Chenney according to the talking heads.
And yet there are no high crimes or misdemeanors detailed. I’m guessing the Democrats would go nuts if the Republicans took the House in 2022 and impeached whoever is the President.
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