McConnell: We've set a very unfortunate precedent here. This means that the Senate can ignore, in effect, the House's impeachment. It doesn't make any difference whether our friends on the other side thought he should have been impeached or not. He was. And by doing what we just did, we have, in effect, ignored the directions of the house, which were to have a trial that no evidence, no procedure. This is a day that's not a proud day in the history of the Senate
@ChadPergram The Senate was within its prerogative to dismiss. Judges can dismiss charges in criminal cases or civil for insufficiency. No reason the Senate cannot do the same. It should NOT be required to waste time and resources. JMO
@zipjet @ChadPergram Prosecutors also have privilege/discretion, yet more & more there are examples where they simply ignore or are outright nullifying laws among some classes while fully punishing others. What is the remedy when there is corruption/abuse?
@zipjet @ChadPergram Jurors cannot though - and that was the paper they signed minutes before. The Senate is a jury, not a judge.
@zipjet @ChadPergram Nothing in the Constitution affords the Senate the right to dismiss the charges. It says the Senate shall hold a trial.
@zipjet @ChadPergram Uhhh, the Senate isn't a judge. Impeachment and conviction have the trappings of judicial procedure but are not, in fact, a judicial proceeding.
I know you mean this sincerely, and I don’t mean the following as an attack, but remember you said this when the next impeachment (you’re in favor of) comes down the pike. We will recall this moment the same way we did Harry Reid’s nuclear option “You’ll regret this, and you may regret it a lot sooner than you think”
@zipjet @ChadPergram Impeachment is not like any other trial! The Senate has no constitutional authority to define a high crime or misdemeanor. What’s to stop the House from assigning a guilty verdict with all impeachments going forward? 51 Democrats trashed the constitution today.
@zipjet @ChadPergram They sufficiently cite provisions of law that they allege him of being derelict of enforcing.