What Mitch McConnell has said about impeaching Donald Trump for second time
The article of impeachment accuses Trump of 'incitement of insurrection' for the riots at the Capitol building on January 6, and according to a recent report from The New York Times, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell may be leaning toward voting in favor of impeachment.
The Washington Postobtained a memo McConnell sent to fellow Republican senators, detailing how Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate would work. According to thePost, the memo stated that Senate won't reconvene for any business including"beginning to act on received articles of impeachment from the House" until January 19, just a few days prior to President-elect
Joe Biden's inauguration."Again, it would require the consent of all 100 Senators to conduct any business of any kind during the scheduled pro forma sessions prior to January 19, and therefore the consent of all 100 Senators to begin acting on any articles of impeachment during those sessions," McConnell said in the memo, according to the
Post.While McConnell has yet to publicly state if he supports or opposes impeaching Trump, he previously broke from Trump when the Senate convened for a special joint session to certify state's electoral votes, opposing the attempt to overturn Trump's loss. headtopics.com
"President Trump claims the election was stolen. The assertions range from specific local allegations to constitutional arguments, to sweeping conspiracy theories," McConnell said during the session."I supported the president's right to use the legal system. Dozens of lawsuits received hearings in courtrooms all across our country. But over and over the courts rejected these claims, including all star judges, whom the president himself has nominated."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell arrives at the U.S. Capitol and walks to his office on January 6. McConnell's comments in a speech last week showed stark differences from those he made during Trump's first impeachment trial in early 2020.
Drew Angerer/GettyHe continued,"But my colleagues, nothing before us proves illegality anywhere near the massive scale, the massive scale that would have tipped the entire election. Nor can public doubt alone justify a radical break when the doubt itself was incited without any evidence."
During his speech he also stated that overruling the courts and the voters"would damage our republic forever" and added that"if this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our Democracy would enter a death spiral. We'd never see the whole nation accept an election again." headtopics.com
While he did not directly mention Trump in his speech last week, his comments showed stark differences from those he made during Trump's first impeachment trial in early 2020, where he called Democrats' push to impeach Trump"the most rushed, least fair and least thorough" and voted to acquit him.
As of Wednesday morning, at least five Republican House members have indicated that they plan to vote in favor of impeaching Trump and as Democrats hold majority control of the House the vote is likely to pass.Newsweek Read more: Newsweek »
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Democrats use power to settle personal scores with Trump.This is unacceptable Don't rely on this man to act with honour. He and his spineless, self interested GOP colleague are responsible thru their silence for the 5 deaths and the disgraceful attack on Congress and on the reputatation of the US.