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.”
So smart that he didn't lift a finger to help the two Georgia Republicans candidates in their January 5 run-off, thereby all-but-insuring his retirement from Senate Majority Leader and giving up the Majority gavel and its power to the Democrats.
Yeah, extremely smart --NOT!
OMG! My representative Tom Rice of South Carolina voted to impeach President Trump??
I know him and will be contacting him immediately!!!!
The Parliament of Whores* Impeachment Circle Jerk has hit a snag.
*ht: P.J. O’Rourke
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I personally think McConnell should hold a speedy trial in order to force the Dems to start a 3rd Impeachment if he was smart which I’m not so sure about.
or maybe Axios and the NY Slimes was lying- again....i’m no fan of b!tch mcconnell but i’m not believing anything left wing media publishes...
So “moderate” Manchin says they can impeach later “if necessary “? How moderate of him.
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What does that even mean? Trump has already been impeached. After he leaves office how can their be a trial to Impeach him?
The Presidency is the most stressful job on planet earth. That stress will hyper accelerate his mental decline. I predict he will be gone in 3-4 months tops via the 25th amendment, fulfilling Trumps warning “Be careful what you wish for”.
Primary their asses
You aren’t paying attention...the Georgia cheating means primaries or general elections are ALL FIXED...
No-Names. Except for Cheney, who’s a Know-Nothing.
They can run all they want, but no one will take a bet on them winning - no matter how many votes they may get.
Yes.
McConnell is a skilled politician which is what we need to guide us through this wilderness. I know he gets no love from Conservatives but Nancy Pelosi’s skill level is very very high. She is a threat that we have underestimated. We should consider that it might not be in our interest to cause McConnell unnecessary problems. There is seriously high stakes poker.
I’m no longer a republican voter...
“Game over.”
No, now they’ll go after him in other ways.
They can use their friends in the SDNY to attack him.
They can kill him and get bonus points by making it look like one of us did it.
They can use the bureaucracy to endlessly harass him by weaponizing the IRS and other government agencies.
etc.
Impeachment is a Badge of Honor, especially Twice.
It just says the Deep State hates your guts.
Thanks. I agree...
Then we may as well just buy a rope and hang ourselves, eh? Fight or die. This is not the time for self defeatist rhetoric.
That is arbitrarily applied
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