Will the Kill Switch Option be Used in Impeachment Trial?

by Daveda Gruber:

Is it better to have a short impeachment trial or a longer drawn out impeachment trial? All this will depend on what the immediate evidence that is presented includes.

It has been reported that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell R-Ky., is working on finalizing a rule to be included that would be a safety valve to be able to dismiss the articles of impeachment after some evidence is presented.

Senator Ted Cruz R-Tx., has made statements that the Senate trial could last six to eight weeks or longer  if it is decided by Senators to hear from additional witnesses.

Hearing from additional witnesses could interfere with the campaigns of Senators. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. They could very well be pulled off the campaign trail.

It appears that GOP Senators consider that this is not to their advantage.

Republicans have said they supported affording Trump the opportunity to cut the trial short.

Republican Missouri Senator Josh Hawley R-Mo., said he would be “very, very surprised” if McConnell’s resolution didn’t include that kind of kill switch.

Hawley said in reports, “I am familiar with the resolution as it stood a day or two ago. My understanding is that the resolution will give the president’s team the option to either move to judgment or to move to dismiss at a meaningful time.”

Hawley tweeted:

Democrats are upset that McConnell has been holding the final resolution with the rules and not giving information until McConnell deemed his entire resolution fit for the Senators and the public to see.

McConnell doesn’t have to publish the final version of his resolution until Tuesday but it will most likely come out today.

Sources have said that the House managers have absolutely no idea what the structure of the trial will be.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Ak., said she’s comfortable waiting to decide if more information would be needed for the Senate’s impeachment trial until after hearing arguments from House managers as well as attorneys for the president.

Murkowski wants to see senators hear the case and ask questions, which would be in writing and handed to Justice John Roberts to read aloud before making any determination whether witnesses or documents would be needed.

Democrats may try adding certain witnesses to an organizing resolution. McConnell, at that point, could move to table such a request and Murkowski said that she would support a tabling motion.
No one wants to see a re-play of the circus that went on in the House. The Senate does not want to be seen in that kind of light and most Americans, who watch these things, don’t want to see that kind of nonsense.

Law professor Alan Dershowitz is set to present an argument against impeachment during the Senate trial. There will be no need for witnesses if his presentation succeeds. Criminal-like conduct is required for impeachment and Dershowitz allegedly believes there is none.

Will this be a long trial or a short one? Only time will tell. Which would be better? It depends on if Dershowitz is correct in his explanation.

Will Pelosi Give Up Articles of Impeachment to Senate?

by Daveda Gruber:

On Friday Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said that she’ll send impeachment articles to the Senate next week.

Pelosi, even though the impeachment of President Trump was, as far as Democrats were concerned, urgent and keeping Trump in office was a security risk to the U.S. could not have been anywhere near as urgent as they made it sound.

House Democrats voted on the articles of impeachment on December 18th. Pelosi has been holding onto them since.

After trying to get the Majority Leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell to agree with the way she wants the trial held, Pelosi must have come to terms with the fact that she doesn’t control the Senate nor its rules.

Pelosi wrote a letter to her colleagues explaining what they should expect next.

Pelosi wrote,  “I have asked Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler to be prepared to bring to the Floor next week a resolution to appoint managers and transmit articles of impeachment to the Senate. I will be consulting with you at our Tuesday House Democratic Caucus meeting on how we proceed further.”

This past week some Democrats were making their frustrations heard over the speaker’s approach to the matter.

In any case, Pelosi is still pressing on about important new information on the Ukraine controversy which is at the heart of impeachment.

The memo reads, “I am very proud of the courage and patriotism exhibited by our House Democratic Caucus as we support and defend the Constitution.”

She added, “In an impeachment trial, every Senator takes an oath to ‘do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws.’ Every Senator now faces a choice: to be loyal to the President or to the Constitution. No one is above the law, not even the President.”

Well, the Constitution hasn’t been brought up by Democrats with this much reference for as long as I can remember. When it becomes a focus of the Democrats to keep citing the Constitution, you can be sure they are using it as a talking point to stress that they are doing everything in a constitutional or legal manner.

Several Democrats lawmakers have voiced their opinions and are not pleased with this delay.

Some of those who were not happy with the delay are, Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Senator Angus King, D-Maine; Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; and Senator Chris Coons, D-Del.

Pelosi made an official announcement that supported her memo.

Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was early to jump on the delay tactic.

Grassley said in a statement of his own, “Speaker Pelosi threw the United States Congress into unnecessary chaos with this pointless delay. From the beginning, it’s been unclear what the goal of this hurry-up-and-wait tactic was or what the country stood to gain. We now know the answer was nothing.”

The Iowa senator went on to say, “We’ve had three weeks of uncertainty and confusion, causing even more division. Regardless, I will take my role as a juror seriously and review the evidence presented by both sides before making any determination.”

The next step for Pelosi will be to determine who will serve as House managers to prosecute the case against the president in the Senate trial.

The trial in the Senate may begin next week.

This whole facade will go on until Majority Leader of the United States Senate Mitch McConnell , R-Ky., either calls for a vote or the whole case gets dismissed.