CNN: McConnell will move to acquit Trump if he's impeached, not merely dismiss charges, 2 Republican senators say
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is expected to hold a final vote to acquit President Donald Trump, should he be impeached, when a majority of senators believe his trial has run its course instead of holding a vote on dismissing the articles of impeachment, two Republican senators told CNN on Wednesday.
Republicans want to have a vote on acquittal -- to clear the President of the charges against him -- not simply rely on a 51-vote threshold procedural motion to dismiss the hotly disputed case.
The Constitution mandates 67 votes are required to convict the President and remove him from office, a barrier widely considered too high to be reached in this case.
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WNU Editor: If President Trump had committed a crime that one can point to a statute and make the case that this is a clear violation of the law, while having bi-partisan support to support this case, I can understand why this impeachment process and vote should move forward. But in this case, after three years of investigations and claims of high crimes being committed, I have yet to see any real evidence where one can make the case that a crime has been committed to justify the impeachment and forcible removal of President Trump from office. And as for the two articles of impeachment that the Democrats are pursuing. Asserting executive privilege is not obstruction of justice, and pursuing the agenda that you got elected on is not abuse of power. But this will make no difference. Even though there is zero support from Republicans, President Trump will be impeached next week, and this case will move to the US Senate for trial.
IMHO this is unfortunate. This now sets a precedent where almost any future President can be faced with impeachment along partisan lines if the opposing party controls Congress. This is why I believe a strategy should be implemented by the Republican Senate to make sure that this type of partisan impeachment never happens again. Since impeachment is a political process (especially in this case), the Senate Republicans are now in the position where they make the Democrats pay dearly for what they have put the country through in the past three years so that any future Congress (Republican or Democrat) would think twice should they decide to do it again. Dismissing the charges, while convenient, will not exact any price to the Democrats who have pushed this mess for three years. My advice is that you conduct a trial, and give President Trump the opportunity to meet and answer the charges and claims from his accusers. The entire impeachment inquiry/process has so far been one sided and biased. Time to balance everything out, and make the process fair. The American people are not stupid. They have a very good idea on knowing what is right and wrong, and it is only fair that they see and hear what the other side has to say, and to question their accusers.
