U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) speaks during a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in Washington, D.C., Dec. 16, 2020.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says he will launch a challenge against the Senate impeachment trial of Trump (R-Ky.) on Tuesday (Jan. 26). Paul argued that trying the former president would violate the U.S. Constitution.
Trump is the only U.S. president to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives and the first to face an impeachment trial after leaving office.
Senator Paul has pledged to call for a vote on whether the Constitution would allow the Senate to try a former president who is now a private citizen. Trump leaves office as president on Jan. 20.
Paul tweeted late Monday, “I oppose this unconstitutional act of ‘impeachment trial’ and will vote on whether the Senate can try private citizens.”
He also wrote that if Chief Justice Roberts (R-Va.) is unwilling to participate in a so-called impeachment trial, that will let you know if the move (impeachment trial) is fully constitutional.
Paul added, “Republicans should reject any proceeding that involves a partisan Democrat (presiding), not the chief justice (presiding).”
Paul is expected to speak on the Senate floor around noon Tuesday.
The House voted largely along party lines on the 13th, passing a bill of impeachment by a 232 to 197 vote, accusing former President Trump of “high crimes and misdemeanors” for inciting a mob to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6. Democrats accuse Trump of statements that led to the Jan. 6 violence at the Capitol, including a speech Trump gave that day on The Ellipse.
But the timeline shows that Trump had not yet begun speaking when the violence at the Capitol began. Trump also defended his speech, saying it was “entirely appropriate.
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will not preside over former President Trump’s second impeachment trial in the Senate, which will be presided over by Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the president pro tempore of the Senate and chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
According to a statement issued by Leahy on Monday afternoon, “When I preside over the impeachment trial of former President Trump, I will not waver from my constitutional and sworn obligation to conduct the trial fairly and in accordance with the Constitution and the law.”
Republicans argued that the move would create a conflict of interest, as Leahy had voted to hold Trump guilty of two articles of impeachment during his first impeachment last February.
Still other Republicans said the Senate should not impeach a former president and that only Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts is qualified to preside.
“There’s only one constitutional process for impeachment, and it’s against the president, not against a non-president,” said Republican Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Texas), “and it [impeachment] requires the chief justice to preside.”
The House filed articles of impeachment against Trump on Monday night (25). Senators will be sworn in for the trial on Tuesday (26) in accordance with procedure.
Trump has until Feb. 2 to respond to the articles of impeachment.
Alan Dershowitz, a constitutional law expert and retired Harvard law professor, said in an interview that even though Democrats now have a majority in the Senate and could vote to put the former president on trial, “that trial would be an unconstitutional act, however.
Recent Comments