Ahead of the fifth day of Trump’s second impeachment trial, Mitch McConnell sends an email to Republican senators informing them that he is voting to acquit the former president.
McConnell’s excuse is that Trump is already out of office, so the Constitution doesn’t apply. House impeachment managers made very clear on Tuesday that impeachment was designed not only to remove a president but to stop him or her from running for public office again. Republican Senators know this.
House impeachment managers argue that not impeaching Trump will tell all future presidents that they can get away with anything during their last month in office.
Colleagues — as I have said for some time, today’s vote is a vote of conscience and I know we will all treat it as such. I have been asked directly by a number of you how I intend to vote, so thought it right to make that known prior to the final vote. While a close call, I am persuaded that impeachments are a tool primarily of remove and we therefore lack jurisdiction. The Constitution makes perfectly clear that Presidential criminal misconduct while in office can be prosecuted after the President has left office, which in my view alleviates the otherwise troubling “January exception” argument raised by the House.
Given these conclusions, I will vote to acquit. Mitch.
Email from Sen. Mitch McConnell
Sources
https://twitter.com/burgessev/status/1360598396801867783
https://twitter.com/evanperez/status/1360602704251400192
Photo: Public Domain