Do You Support Trump Being Impeached Again?

by minimus 76 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  TD

  Anony Mous

  The Constitution Annotated is the resource provided by the U.S. Government via the Library of Congress for understanding our Constitution. I would agree that it's not the final authority, but it is more than simply "one" opinion published by "a" government.
  

  The characterization of high crimes and misdemeanors with regard to impeachment as fundamentally criminal acts is a misconception commonly repeated in Trump's defense.
  

  This has never been true for judges under Article III, Section 1 of our Constitution which provides that judges of the supreme and inferior courts "shall hold their offices during good behavior."

  It's also not true of the office of President as Deschler's Precedents of the U.S. House of Representatives notes with regard to Nixon: "...the grounds for Presidential impeachment need not be indictable or criminal." (I can provide the full quote if context is needed.)

  Article I, Section 2 of our Constitution grants the House sole power in impeachment and Section 3 grants the Senate sole power to try impeachments. There is no Constitutional provision for judicial review and therefore unlikely that the Supreme Court would get involved.
  
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  frozen2018

  Do you think the Senate is stupid enough to actually hold a trial? After the defendant has left? Do they really want to bring Trump back for an encore?
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  minimus

  He will have a right to defend himself with lawyers at a Senate trial. It would be very counterproductive for Biden.
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  frozen2018

  Yes, he would have lawyers. And discovery. And witnesses. And evidence. Hell, he could call every County Clerk in the country to testify. And every State's Secretary of State. It could drag on for years if Trump has the cash. Or would the taxpayers have to fund the whole thing? I like to think that Trump is spending his remaining time declassifying tons of documents, signing pardons (I'm thinking Assange would be a great one. And one for Hunter Biden just for fun), and composing a nice note for incoming President Biden. I wonder if the Bidens will bring a nice gift for the Trumps like the Trumps did for the Obamas?
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  TD

  Well again, a Senate impeachment "trial" is not a criminal proceeding. It is a legislative exercise where what is and what is not heard is almost entirely up to the Senate itself.
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  Queequeg

  I hope he has Giuliani defend him. That would be amazeballs!
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  Simon

  So another "nothing burger"

  Wow, the dems sure know how to waste time and money don't they?!
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  minimus

  The Democrats love to spend money foolishly
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  OnTheWayOut

  While there never were going to be enough votes to convict, it was stupid to say that a former president cannot be impeached because he is gone.
  
  If a police officer retires, we cannot try him for using too much violence on the job during his career.
  If a surgeon retires, we cannot convict him for operating under the influence of alcohol during his career.
  Anyone can retire if we discover they did something criminal during their career.....especially right there near the end.
  
  
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  Diogenesister

  Just to say the fact they wish to impeach after his presidency is not relevant.

  Its not a criminal trial...the point is to decide whether he will have the right to hold office again. The constitution makes no mention of the timing of an impeachment and subsequent trial This makes sense because it takes time to accrue evidence and an office holder could commit “treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanours” in his last few days in office, for example, thus escaping justice by simply resigning the day before the trial (or even during).

  Once he has left office a president is also no ordinary citizen, either. He remains an ex-president, is addressed as a president and is entitled to the benefits, financial and otherwise, of that office for the rest of his life. This includes the right to certain security briefings etc. Then there is precedent. Congress has begun impeachment trials on officials who left office on three separate occasions. Just because these men were not presidents is irrelevant, since there is only one impeachment clause that every official is subject to.

  whether the facts are such that Trump should be subject to impeachment is another matter but that President Trump has left office does not mean he is no longer subject to conviction.