Impeachment Today: Nancy Pelosi to Senate--Not So Fast
“Our founders, when they wrote the Constitution, I think they expected that there could be a rogue President. I don’t think they expected that we could have a rogue President, and a rogue leader in the Senate at the same time.”
--Nancy Pelosi
Republicans and whole lotta pundits once again underestimated House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Surprising nobody, two articles of impeachment passed on the floor of the House of Representatives Wednesday night. Day-long efforts by Republicans to derail the process included speeches comparing President Trump’s predicament to Jesus Chris and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
The four Democratic congressional members representing San Diego voted in support of impeaching President Donald Trump. The region’s lone Republican congressman, Rep. Duncan Hunter, abstained because he isn’t allowed to vote due to a felony conviction.
https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1207700195296841728?s=20
When a couple of Democrats started to applaud the final vote on Article 2, Pelosi shot them a withering glance that shut it down immediately.
And then she figuratively took those articles of impeachment, stuck them in her pocket and left Republicans to wonder if they’d ever get to a Senate trial.
The two articles of impeachment charging Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of congressional investigations must be accompanied by a second resolution formally naming impeachment managers to present the case in the Senate. Only then can the official transmission of articles to the Senate occur.
The House Majority Leader says she won't name impeachment managers until there's a "fair trial" in Senate -- essentially holding up the process.
“So far we haven’t seen anything that looks fair to us,” Pelosi told reporters at a news conference. "But right now, the president is impeached."
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was saying the House impeachment action was invalid because it was 'predetermined'. That is apparently his justification in promising predetermined outcome in the Senate.
And now all his promises concerning the Senate’s role are coming back to haunt the Kentucky Republican:
McConnell accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of being afraid to send “their shoddy work product to the Senate” after she threw uncertainty into the impeachment process late Wednesday by refusing to say when she would send two impeachment articles to the Senate for a trial.
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1207696666746224643?s=20
UPDATE: Our genius President apparently thinks the Senate can start an impeachment trial without a referral from the House of Representatives.
The Oval Office morning Twitterstorm includes incorrectly quoting a snippet of the Constitution: “the Senate shall set the time and place of the trial.” Then he follows up by saying that if Democrats decide “not to show up, they would lose by Default!”
Actual constitutional quote: (Article 1, Section 3)
The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
***
Tick Tock...
Mark Meadows is 25th House Republican to call it quits this year. He should be remembered as the guy who said of President Obama: "We'll send him back to Kenya, or wherever it is."
And at the Moscow Times:
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that U.S. Democrats had impeached President Donald Trump for "fabricated" reasons in order to reverse his 2016 election victory.
Putin, speaking at his annual year-end news conference, said he expected Trump to survive the proceedings and stay in office...
“This is an example of partisan infighting. The party who lost the election is using other methods to achieve their goals... They accused him of plotting with Russia, and when that turned out not to be true, they made up pressure on Ukraine.”
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