Two Gentlemen of the Old Confederacy on the Impeachment of Trump
Reminiscent of Jim Crow jurors sitting in judgement of white defendants on trial for the lynch mob murder of a black man, Senators Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell have staked out and publicly articulated their positions regarding the Senate Trial of Donald Trump, pursuant to the Articles of Impeachment that will be presented to the Senate by the House of Representatives in the days to come:
“I have made up my mind,” Graham (R-S.C.) said Saturday at a conference in Qatar. “I’m not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here.”
McConnell (R-Kentcky) said during an interview on Fox News on Thursday night that “everything I do during this, I’m coordinating with the White House counsel. There will be no difference between the president’s position and our position as to how to handle this to the extent that we can.”
Article 1, Section 3 of the Constitution: The section states: “The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation.”
The “Oath” is defined by Senate rules and would read: “I solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of [President Trump], now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws: So help me God.”
So here’s one question, among the very many, that should be raised regarding the actions and behavior of these two Senators:
Have these two gentlemen of the ‘Old Confederacy’ placed Donald Trump above the law with their respective open and public manifestations of contempt for a fair and impartial Impeachment Trial?
12/17/2019 @ 9:26 am
I think this is another hypocritical example of how progressives/liberals think.
Let’s just do this. Ok, McConnell and Graham are partial. All partial senators should be out then. Since, Sanders, Warren, Harris, Booker, and Klobuchar had all declared Trump should be impeached a year ago, before there was any charges, they have all showed they are incredibly biased. So, why aren’t you demanding they recuse themselves if impartiality is what you really want? Have some backbone and call out ALL who have already corrupted the system.
12/17/2019 @ 11:24 am
There is a distinct and marked difference between impeachment by the House of Representatives and the subsequent trial held by the Senate.
Impeachment is not a conclusive action relative to the question of guilt or innocence.
Impeachment is the indictment for ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ no definitive conclusion is reached in determining whether impeachment is the necessary and/or appropriate remedy regarding the facts, which are not in dispute, that establish wrongdoing.
None of the individuals you mention has rendered judgement prior to the trial which requires that each Senator swear or affirm that he/she “do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws.”
Both McConnel and Graham have publicly eschewed the obligations of an impartial juror and will violate the oath they must take going forward to a trial by the Senate pursuant to Impeachment by the House.
12/17/2019 @ 11:29 am
However, the question remains, have they placed Trump above the law?
12/17/2019 @ 10:24 am
Ron Powell,
I think you have plenty of backbone and an editor saying differently isn’t the same as the truth being spoken.
12/17/2019 @ 11:28 am
Thanks…
However, the question remains, have they placed Trump above the law?
12/17/2019 @ 12:52 pm
Actually I have not placed Trump above the law. Here is what I have seen. For 36 months I heard one BS accusation after another. Literally, one after another. The latest ones were bribery and extortion. They could not even make a case for that.
Now we are on obstruction of Congress – something literally every president has done, so are you seeking Obama being arrested – a charge that was made up by them. Also, abuse of power. If I were his attorney I could beat that charge in five minutes.
What I want you to tell me is exactly how Trump has violated the law in his official capacity as president. Please enlighten me.
12/17/2019 @ 1:06 pm
Ron Powell,
I am not an attorney, nor will I pretend to be one.
You, obviously are well versed as an attorney.
That said, I do believe that he is being placed above the law.
12/17/2019 @ 3:28 pm
“If I were his attorney I could beat that charge in five minutes…”
RP: If you were an attorney, you would know that ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’, as prescribed in the Constitution, do not require a violation of any criminal statute…
12/18/2019 @ 1:47 am
My problem is calling them “gentlemen.”
Robert,
Do I really have to explain the difference to you between indictment and conviction? Saying there’s enough evidence to send someone to trial is not the same thing as saying they’ve already determined the verdict. The function of the prosecutor is not the same as the function of the juror. Prosecutors aren’t structured to be impartial, jurors are. Even if a Senator says the President should be impeached, that isn’t saying the President should be convicted. That in theory can’t be determined before trial. Unless you’re McConnell or Graham.
It is not a BS accusation that the President held up foreign aid to another country pending the president of that country investigating (for a second time) the son of the American President’s primary electoral opponent. The facts here aren’t even in question.
But let’s look at BS accusations. So you’re telling me that if Hillary had been elected, Don Jr. had been involved in business dealings in Ukraine for which he was previously investigated resulting in the conclusion that there was no wrongdoing, Congress authorized military aid to Ukraine, Hillary called the Ukrainian president to ask for a second investigation of Don Jr. in order to get at his father, and she held up the aid pending an agreement to open an investigation into the son of her political opponent, that you would say nothing impeachable had happened here?
Like Hell you would
12/18/2019 @ 9:23 am
Of course they’ve placed Grump above the law. In terms of behaving like actual jurors, they’ve also placed themselves above the law.
12/18/2019 @ 9:24 am
“Grump” was a typo, not a slam.
12/18/2019 @ 10:09 am
I like Koshersalaami’s take on the troll-like comments of Robert Pannier, and the simple yet accurate assessment and definitions supplied by Ron Powell.
12/19/2019 @ 6:13 am
Nancy Pelosi has done something good about this. She has said she won’t forward Articles of Impeachment to the Senate until she knows the technicalities of how the trial will be set up.
12/20/2019 @ 9:16 am
Thanks Art. .
12/20/2019 @ 10:24 am
Kosh, If she and McConnell were involved in a chess match, this latest ‘ Pelosi tactic’ would have to be be characterized as a brilliant move.
She is creating the scenario in which Trump and the Republicans will win in the Senate but lose in the ‘court of public opiniin’.
She is making certain that the Republicans hang themselves with an obviously predetermined and contrived acquittal…
As I said in my previous post, “In the Court of Public Opinion, the Media Must Get It Right”.
If the media gets it right, after Pelosi is through setting the Republicans up by making them attempt to defend the indefensible, they should be able to make an easy slam dunk of the shit show that the Republicans will try to pass off to the public as a fair and impartial trial as required by the Constitution.
Hence, Senators McConnell and Graham, et al should be made to look like the political bigots and cowards they are…
BindleSnitch - Pelosi v McConnell
12/22/2019 @ 12:32 pm
[…] Two Gentlemen of the Old Confederacy on the Impeachment of Trump […]
01/10/2020 @ 3:04 pm
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