Tag: Senate GOP

Final impeachment vote postponed to Wednesday amid internal GOP spat

The Hill logoSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has postponed a final vote on articles of impeachment against President Trump until Wednesday in the face of opposition from Senate GOP moderates to his plan to wrap up the trial Friday or Saturday without deliberations.

Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), emerging from a Senate GOP conference meeting, said senators now will return to the impeachment trial at 11 a.m. Monday to deliberate with a final vote on convicting or acquitting Trump set for Wednesday.

“There was some feverish discussion,” Braun said. Continue reading.

Senate rejects motion for witnesses at Trump impeachment trial

Trial now moves toward acquittal, but schedule far from certain

The Senate on Friday rejected a motion to hear from additional witnesses or to see new documents in its impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, ending weeks of speculation over whether Republicans would break with their party to extend the trial.

Republican senators largely stuck together in Friday’s pivotal 49-51 vote that would have allowed the body to subpoena new information before voting on whether to remove Trump from office on the two articles of impeachment presented by House impeachment managers.

The Senate adjourned, subject to the call of the chair, immediately after the vote as both parties huddled to determine next steps. The White House and Republicans leaders in the Senate had hoped to hold the vote to acquit Trump Friday night, but that may not happen. Continue reading.

Dershowitz: Trump trial is my ‘worst controversy’

The Hill logoCelebrity attorney Alan Dershowitz has become the lightning rod of the Senate impeachment trial. 

Dershowitz, 81, insists he isn’t a political supporter of President Trump and that he backed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

Yet the Harvard Law professor emeritus, who has repeatedly offered a public defense for Trump since his election, is now taking a star turn on the president’s legal impeachment team, delivering passionate and controversial statements extolling a broad notion of executive power.

And he’s doing so as he takes a 180 on arguments he made in 1998, when he argued against President Bill Clinton’s impeachment. Continue reading.

Republicans aren’t just lying. They are doing so shamelessly

AlterNet logoThe problem we face with the current iteration of the Republican Party isn’t just a matter of their extremist policies. As a matter of fact, other than their embrace of racism, sexism, and homophobia, they’ve become a post-policy party, existing almost solely by fueling grievance and resentment.

But it’s even worse than that. As a party that increasingly finds itself in the minority, they have launched efforts to disrupt our democratic processes via gerrymandering congressional districts and suppressing votes in order to maintain power.

Yet, it is still worse than that. As I noted recently, in their efforts to defend the most corrupt president in this country’s history, they have attempted to destroy the whole concept of facts, evidence, and reason. Nowhere is that more evident than the blatant, shameless lies they insist on telling about Joe Biden. Continue reading.

Limiting Senate inquiry ignores Founders’ intent for impeachment

Senators will soon decide whether to dismiss the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump without hearing any witnesses. In making this decision, I believe they should consider words spoken at the Constitutional Convention, when the Founders decided that an impeachment process was needed to provide a “regular examination,” to quote Benjamin Franklin.

A critical debate took place on July 20, 1787, which resulted in adding the impeachment clause to the U.S. Constitution. Franklin, the oldest and probably wisest delegate at the Constitutional Convention, said that when the president falls under suspicion, a “regular and peaceable inquiry” is needed.

In my work as a law professor studying original texts about the U.S. Constitution, I’ve read statements made at the Constitutional Convention that demonstrate the Founders viewed impeachment as a regular practice, with three purposes:

  • To provide a fair and reliable method to resolve suspicions about misconduct;
  • To remind both the country and the president that he is not above the law;
  • To deter abuses of power. Continue reading.

The impeachment trial hurtles toward its worst-case conclusion

Washington Post logoAs President Trump’s impeachment trial speeds to a close, perhaps as soon as Friday, likely without any witnesses, the result looks to be a worst-case scenario.

In the beginning, the president’s lawyers made a relatively benign argument: He didn’t do it. No quid pro quo.

But House managers tried their case too well. Evidence piled up on the Senate floor over the past 10 days that the president withheld military aid to force Ukraine to announce probes of his political foes. And former national security adviser John Bolton’s firsthand account leaked about the quid pro quo. Continue reading.

Justice John Roberts legacy will hinge on whether he lets Republicans get away with their sham impeachment trial: CNN

AlterNet logoAccording to CNN legal analyst & Supreme Court biographer Joan Biskupic, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is currently facing the defining moment of his career on the bench as he presides over the impeachment trial of Donald Trump and he needs to give serious thought as to how history will treat him if he allows the Republican Party to brush aside the charges against the president.

With the Republican-controlled Senate expected to vote to block attempts to allow witnesses to appear in the trial — or end in a 50-50 deadlock — it will be up to Roberts to decide if he wants to intercede and keep the trial alive.

“Roberts has led the US Supreme Court for 15 years. Now age 65, he may serve another 15 years as chief justice. But Friday, he could face a moment on the elevated Senate dais that significantly shapes his legacy — if it gets to that point,” she wrote. “The chief justice could be pressed to break a tie vote on whether witnesses will be called. And he will almost certainly face further pleas by Democratic House managers to intervene and require a deeper review of the Trump allegations.” Continue reading.

George Conway: Don’t let the defense fool you. This impeachment is all about corruption.

Washington Post logoThe president’s lawyers this week floated their catch-all impeachment defense, one tailor-made for President Trump. It is, in essence, that a narcissistic president can do no wrong.

Like most of the president’s arguments, it’s erroneous. But no argument could have presented the issue more starkly to Republican senators: Will they follow their oaths to defend the Constitution and to do impartial justice? Or will they once again show fealty to Trump personally, thereby accepting his conflation of his personal interests with those of the nation?

The Trump lawyers’ challenge to the Senate began with their answer to the very first question from senators. Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Mitt Romney (Utah) asked: What if the president had a mixed motive — if he thought he was acting both “in pursuit of a personal political advantage” and in “promotion of national interests”? Deputy White House Counsel Patrick Philbin responded without caveat. That “cannot possibly be the basis for an impeachable offense,” he said. Continue reading the commentary by George Conway.

GOP whitewash nearly complete: Will they pay in November?

AlterNet logoMitch McConnell’s cover-up of Donald Trump’s corruption looks like it will soon be complete — but not before a betrayal so big it could blow the GOP’s chances of holding the Senate in November.

After 10 days of arguing over whether to allow evidence in Trump’s impeachment trial, the Senate is expected to vote Friday on whether to allow witnesses, a vote Majority Leader Mitch McConnell now believes he will win. Republicans are determined to fast-track the end of a trial where the defendant has offered no real denial of what he’s accused, has refused to provide any material evidence and has already paid off the jury.

Such a lazy defense is precisely why McConnell wanted to avoid an impeachment process altogether. Public opinion had decidedly turned against Trump and the GOP Senate since the trial began. Hundreds took to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to call for witnesses, as 75% of voters in a new Monmouth University poll say witnesses should be allowed to testify. A straw poll on witnesses among GOP senators earlier this week was tighter than McConnell expected after it was revealed that former White House national security adviser John Bolton has a forthcoming tell-all which reportedly lays bare Trump’s plan to pressure Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden. Continue reading.

Graham: It’s “Insane” To Say Republicans Blocked Trial Witnesses

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who voted to block subpoenas for witness testimony in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, said on Thursday that he considers it “insane,” ridiculous,” and “outrageous” to accuse Republicans of blocking witnesses.

“Of all the insane things being said about this impeachment debacle — and there is a lot to choose from — one of the most ridiculous is to say Senate Republicans are ‘Blocking Witnesses,’” Graham wrote on Twitter Thursday morning. “This is an outrageous claim.”

On Jan. 22, Graham joined his Republican colleagues in the Senate to vote 11 times to reject an attempt by Democratic senators to allow witnesses and documents to be a part of the impeachment trial. Graham voted against subpoenaing testimony from acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton, among others. Continue reading.