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.”
100% agreement here.
spHARRUS/BIDEN
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Well he could ‘say’ he’s going to run in 2024 just to be a thorn in their side.
I think it is too late for that. He forgot who brought him to the dance.
China Mitch is a natural born minority leader. He’s gone home to help a Democrat POTUS achieve their agenda. How soon some of us forget the McConnell-Obama Iran deal. Anyone who thinks McConnell is “one of us” at this point is dangerously naive.
“I’m no longer a republican voter...”
I’m no longer a Republican donor.
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.
Agree. China Mitch is doing POTUS no favors here. He should hold a vote in the Senate immediately and shove this garbage right down Pelosi’s throat.
That or it is all political gamesmanship.
If he says he’s “undecided” he thinks it gives him ground from angering anyone on either side.
Then by not holding the vote to remove, he is never held to task and can still claim both sides if pushed. And if hounded by the Left over why he didn’t call the Senate back in to do it, he can try to claim it was outside his power to do so.
Rather than take a real stand, politicians pull this crap all the time. It will backfire and piss off Trump supporters like us, but he’s gambling on the Dems putting up someone like McGrath in 6 years and people not remembering by then.
:)
Apparently this “moderate “ thinks they can just yank President Trump around for the rest of his life. If I were him I’d buy an island somewhere and retire to it, and tell Congress and politicians to go f*** themselves.
I tend to agree. However, the Senate has consistently, throughout history, asserted that it does have jurisdiction to try the impeachment of a former officer. The Senate has never actually convicted a former officer, though, so no one has ever had standing to challenge that assertion in court.
Thanks, and sorry for posting the body. I must have checked an out-of-date “Excerpt and Link Only” list.
I don’t expect him or anyone else to reverse 30 years of progressive advancement. It’s just not going to happen. Nancy Pelosi is a threat to us though. She is a William Tecumseh Sherman level threat and my energy would be better served opposing her than Mitch McConnell I think. He has done nothing to convince me otherwise.
[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.]
Here are the Republicans who voted to impeach Mr. Trump:
Liz Cheney of Wyoming
Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio
Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington
John Katko of New York
Adam Kinzinger of Illinois
Peter Meijer of Michigan
Dan Newhouse of Washington
Tom Rice of South Carolina
Fred Upton of Michigan
David Valadao of California
Cheney, the third-ranking Republican in the House, said in a statement on Tuesday that she would vote to impeach Mr. Trump
Sounds like a deal is in the works.
I don’t want Trump to run again. I love him and want him to have a long and wonderful life. I want him to lead us against the GOPe and I want him to continue making America great.
I don’t want him to spend precious years exposed to massive hatred by the left. He is the greatest president of my lifetime.
It’s cute that you think there will be fair elections in 2024.
I think it’s also a threat to anyone else who may be thinking of bucking the system. This is unfolding like every other coup in history. Particularly the French Revolution.
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