Category: Senate

Joy Behar Warns Gaetz To ‘Watch’ Himself In Feud With Liz Cheney – ‘She’ll Eat Him For Breakfast’

Posted on by LifeZette

Earlier today, we reported that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) were publicly feuding after she voted in favor of impeaching former President Donald Trump.

Now, “The View” cohost Joy Behar is inserting herself into this drama, warning Gaetz to “watch” himself when it comes to fighting with Cheney.

Behar Blasts Republicans 

Behar went after not only Gaetz, but also any Republican senator who votes against impeaching Trump over the Capitol riots earlier this month.

“That anybody in the Senate could look at that, could look at the facts, and not say that he’s guilty, I do not really understand what country I’m living in,” Behar said.

“And you know what, these people who are not going to vote for a conviction will be remembered,” she added. “We will remember them. Because if they let him go without any kind of accountability, Trump, this will happen again.”

“It will happen again,” Behar continued. “We’ll remember those names of the senators and the House people who decided not to convict this guy, because the blood is on their hands then.”

Related: Joy Behar Comes Unglued – Says Trump ‘Made It His Business For Four Years To Rape This Country’

Behar Doubles Down

Not stopping there, Behar said that House Impeachment Managers had delivered the article to the “scene of the crime” on Monday.

“Those people who were receiving those papers, these people, they were all at risk that day and they know it, even those who are going to vote to acquit this guy,”  Behar said. “They know they were at risk.”

That’s when Behar gave Gaetz a warning about messing with Cheney.

“As far as Matt Gaetz and Liz Cheney is concerned, the daughter of Dick Cheney, she’ll eat him for breakfast,” Behar said. “Matt, you better watch yourself.”

Related: Matt Gaetz And Liz Cheney Trade Barbs In Battle For Future Of The Republican Party

This came after Gaetz announced plans to travel to Wyoming to try and “inspire” the state to oust her as its representative.

“In the wake of the Biden presidency, the Republican Party establishment is trying to wrangle the conservative movement back under their control,” Gaetz said.

“They want the GOP to look and sound like Liz Cheney,” he added. “I have a competing vision for Republicanism and I intend to showcase it by going after the America Last politicians in both parties.”

This piece was written by James Samson on January 27, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:
Katie Couric’s Calls To ‘Deprogram’ Trump Supporters Come Back To Haunt Her As She Prepares To Host ‘Jeopardy’
Democratic Senator Hirono Reveals Real Goal Behind Trump Impeachment Effort
Cindy McCain Breaks Her Silence After She’s Censored By Arizona GOP

The post Joy Behar Warns Gaetz To ‘Watch’ Himself In Feud With Liz Cheney – ‘She’ll Eat Him For Breakfast’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

Dead On Arrival: 45 Republicans – Including McConnell – Vote That Trump’s Impeachment Trial Is Unconstitutional

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

A majority of Republicans – including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell – voted Wednesday that the impeachment trial of Donald Trump is unconstitutional.

Senator Rand Paul forced a vote on the matter.

In an op-ed written over the weekend, Paul (R-KY) called the impeachment process against the former President a “farce” and said it should be dismissed.

“The Constitution says two things about impeachment — it is a tool to remove the officeholder, and it must be presided over by the chief justice of the Supreme Court,” he wrote.

Neither of those elements exists in this case, as President Trump is no longer in office and Chief Justice John Roberts has declined to preside over the trial.

RELATED: Poll: Republican Voters Are Siding With Trump Over Mitch McConnell

Paul Declares Unconstitutional Impeachment Vote Is Dead

Paul called for a procedural vote regarding holding a trial, claiming the Senate shouldn’t address the article of impeachment against Trump because he is out of office.

In a speech prior to the vote – a speech that went viral – the Kentucky Republican blasted Democrats as “hyper-partisan” and suggested  they “are about to drag our great country into the gutter of rancor and vitriol the likes of which has never been seen in our nation’s history.”

The Senate voted 55-45 to end debate on Paul’s point of order, but the point, in reality, was made. Only five Republicans joined the Democrats, well below the 17 that would be needed for a vote of conviction.

“If you voted that it was unconstitutional, how in the world would you ever vote to convict somebody for this?” Paul told reporters. “This vote indicates it’s over. The trial is all over.”

He later tweeted that the impeachment trial was “dead on arrival.”

RELATED: Schumer Promises Quick Impeachment Trial, A Lot Of Witnesses Not Necessary

Who Joined the Democrats?

Of the five Republicans who voted with Democrats, you had your usual suspects. Typical RINOs who often hide their contempt for President Trump in the cloak of the Constitution, but clearly don’t understand its words.

Susan Collins (ME), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Ben Sasse (NE), Pat Toomey (PA), and Mitt Romney (UT) all voted to table Paul’s point of order.

Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution reads in part:

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

McConnell, surprisingly, voted against ending the debate.

McConnell has reportedly viewed the Democrats’ effort to impeach the president as a means to “help rid the Republican Party of Trump and his movement.”

A recent poll from Axios-Ipsos shows Republican voters have been siding with President Trump over McConnell on the matter.

A majority have said they do not hold Trump responsible for the Capitol riots, believe he has a right to challenge the election, and still prefer him as their nominee in 2024.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer indicated earlier this week that President Trump’s impeachment trial would be “quick,” adding no decision has been made on the need for witnesses.

Evidence is beginning to point to this unconstitutional impeachment trial as a sham – perhaps even more so than the first one.

The post Dead On Arrival: 45 Republicans – Including McConnell – Vote That Trump’s Impeachment Trial Is Unconstitutional appeared first on The Political Insider.

CNN: Biden Says Impeachment Trial ‘Has To’ Happen

Posted on by John Hanson

CNN White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins reported on Monday that President Joe Biden said a Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump “has to happen.”

Collins reported that Biden made his comments earlier on Monday during an off-camera interview with CNN.

RELATED: Biden Accuser Tara Reade Reemerges To Say It Was ‘Unspeakably Hard To Watch The Man Who Assaulted Me’ Be Inaugurated

CNN Report On Biden’s View Of Trump Trial: ‘I Think It Has To Happen’

Collins also reports that Biden does not believe enough Republicans will vote to convict the former president.

As it stands, 17 Republicans would need to join the Democrats in order to reach the two-thirds threshold to convict.

Biden had previously appeared concerned that an impeachment process might distract Democrats from his agenda, but also reportedly said there would be “a worse effect” if it did not happen.

“The Senate has changed since I was there, but it hasn’t changed that much,” Biden said.

On Monday night, House Democrats delivered the article of impeachment to the Senate, accusing Trump of inciting the riots in and around Capitol Hill on January 6.

Trump is the first president to be impeached twice, though Republicans opposed to impeachment say the fact that he’s no longer president makes the push absurd, and perhaps unconstitutional.

The trial is scheduled to start Feb. 8.

Biden Concerned Impeachment Could Affect His 100 Day Agenda

Biden’s Monday comments to CNN come in the wake of a statement the president released earlier this month in which he called the House impeachment vote “a bipartisan vote cast by members who followed the Constitution and their conscience.”

RELATED: Pelosi’s Past Comes Back To Haunt Her – She Once Praised Unionists Storming State Capitol Of Wisconsin

10 House Republicans joined the Democrats in voting to impeach.

“This nation also remains in the grip of a deadly virus and a reeling economy,” Biden said at the time.

He added, “I hope that the Senate leadership will find a way to deal with their Constitutional responsibilities on impeachment while also working on the other urgent business of this nation.”

But was Joe Biden right the first time – will Democrats’ seemingly relentless impeachment efforts distract them from getting on with the business of the nation?

Particularly when it is doubtful there would be enough Republicans to see this through?

The post CNN: Biden Says Impeachment Trial ‘Has To’ Happen appeared first on The Political Insider.

Senate Republicans are preparing to circle the wagons around Trump in delayed impeachment trial

Posted on by Laura Clawson

The House impeachment managers delivered the article of impeachment to the Senate on Monday, and the Senate will convene Tuesday afternoon to issue a summons to Donald Trump for his second impeachment trial. But the trial itself won’t begin until February 9, leaving Trump time to try to find a second lawyer willing to take on his defense. South Carolina lawyer Butch Bowers will lead the defense, but other lawyers are proving reluctant to associate themselves with the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, in addition to very reasonable concerns that Trump won’t pay them.

While Republicans are trying to forestall the trial by arguing that Trump can’t be tried now that he’s no longer in office, President Joe Biden told CNN on Monday that  “I think it has to happen,” because, while the trial may be cause delays in his own agenda, there would be “a worse effect if it didn't happen.”

In addition to their reliance on the procedural claim that a former president can’t face an impeachment trial, the delay in beginning the trial will give Senate Republicans time to decide that what’s past is past and the threat to their own lives should be waved off as irrelevant—but during that time there may also be further revelations about Trump’s efforts to illegally retain power. So the wait could cut either way, or both at once.

Once the trial begins, the House impeachment managers are expected to use video from the attack, including video like one assembled by Just Security showing the response of the rally crowd on January 6 as Trump exhorted them to march to the Capitol. Footage of the mob inside the Capitol could remind senators of just what that felt like—but many Republicans have shown that they are more afraid of that mob coming after them again in one form or another if they don’t support Trump at all times. “There are only a handful of Republicans and shrinking who will vote against him,” predicts Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is continuing his service as Trump’s lapdog. 

Since Trump is now a private citizen, his impeachment trial won’t require the services of Chief Justice John Roberts. Instead, Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Senate president pro tempore, will preside. Some Republicans are trying to make an issue of the lack of Roberts, but only a sitting president merits the chief justice, and that is not Donald Trump. Leahy is firmly pledging total procedural fairness, saying “I don’t think there’s any senator who—over the 40-plus years I’ve been here—that would say that I am anything but impartial in voting on procedure.” And no kidding—it’s as likely that Democrats should worry he’ll bend so far backward to show he’s fair that he’ll form a one-man loop.

Conviction remains unlikely because Trump continues to own the Republican Party too thoroughly for it to be likely that 17 senators will be able to admit to the seriousness of inciting an insurrection that threatened their lives. Which is saying something about just how much of a cult this is. But it’s important to hold the trial—especially with evidence still coming out about both the seriousness of the attack and the scope of Trump’s efforts to overturn the election.

TRUMP: "...you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength..." CROWD VOICES RESPOND:"Storm the #Capitol... invade the Capitol" @justinhendrix, @just_security & @rgoodlaw use crowd video to argue for incitement. 1/pic.twitter.com/A80WBkt002

— John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) January 25, 2021

Senate Republicans, still terrified of Trump, make up constitutional arguments to protect him

Posted on by Joan McCarter

On Monday evening the House will transmit to the Senate the article of impeachment to prevent Donald Trump from ever being in a position to destroy democracy again. Senate leaders have reached an agreement to begin the hearings on February 8. Most Republicans there are not so sure that inciting a violent insurrection against the very body in which they sit is such an impeachable thing. Not that they want to argue about Trump, because they actually did live through that terror that left five people dead, but they need a straw to cling to to avoid dealing with him. And his supporters. So they've made up a new thing: it's unconstitutional to impeach him.

Never mind that there is precedent for impeaching a former federal officer, and that the weight of scholarship on the issue supports it, even though the Framers did not make it explicit in the document itself. Probably because they couldn't possibly envision a Senate so thoroughly corrupted they'd be on the side of Trump. So you have the likes of Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, who opines "The Senate lacks constitutional authority to conduct impeachment proceedings against a former president. […] The Founders designed the impeachment process as a way to remove officeholders from public office—not an inquest against private citizens." He's presuming to speak for the Founders, who spoke for themselves, and that's not what they said.

For example, President John Quincy Adams: When the House was debating its authority to impeach Daniel Webster after the fact for conduct while he was secretary of state, Adams said "I hold myself, so long as I have the breath of life in my body, amenable to impeachment by this House for everything I did during the time I held any public office." The reality is, the Framers left this ambiguous, but they also left the Senate the power to do what they need to do. One, at least, foresaw what could be coming someday.

Here's Alexander Hamilton: "When a man unprincipled in private life[,] desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper […] despotic in his ordinary demeanor—known to have scoffed in private at the principles of liberty—when such a man is seen to mount the hobby horse of popularity—to join in the cry of danger to liberty—to take every opportunity of embarrassing the General Government & bringing it under suspicion—to flatter and fall in with all the non sense of the zealots of the day—It may justly be suspected that his object is to throw things into confusion that he may 'ride the storm and direct the whirlwind.'" There's one Framer who would surely want Trump cut off from any possibility of future office.

Of course, not all Republicans are making this bad faith argument. Others are trying to play the "unity" card. Like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio who got bogged down on Fox News, of all places, arguing that the impeachment is "stupid" even though Trump "bears responsibility for some of what happened." Which part he doesn't make clear. Maybe the five dead people? The one senator who voted to convict Trump last time around (that whole extorting Ukraine to get dirt on Joe Biden to throw the election for Trump—there's a theme developing here) says there's no question he should be impeached. "I believe that what is being alleged and what we saw, which is incitement to insurrection, is an impeachable offense," Sen. Mitt Romney said Sunday. "If not, what is?"

Meanwhile, the trial doesn't start for another two weeks, and the evidence against Trump just keeps increasing, from his machinations in the Justice Department to try to overthrow Georgia's election to his campaign's orchestration of the rally that Trump whipped up into an insurrection. Five people were killed in the insurrection, a cop died by suicide in the aftermath, and 139 U.S. Capitol and D.C. police were assaulted and/or injured in the attack. That evidence, and more, will be presented to the Senate and the American people, along with hours of video of the attack. Republicans might think now that they can make vague arguments about the Constitution, but in the face of the horror inflicted on the nation, their arguments are going to prove pathetic at best, treasonous at worst.

Mitt Romney Suggests Trump Impeachment Necessary For ‘Unity In Our Country’

Posted on by John Hanson

Republican Senator Mitt Romney suggested Sunday that impeaching former President Donald Trump could bring national unity.

The “Never Trump” Senator made his comments on “Fox News Sunday” with host Chris Wallace.

Watch the interview below.

RELATED: Pelosi Sending Impeachment Article to Senate Monday, GOP Senators Warn McConnell Against Vote To Convict

Romney Argues Senate Trial Necessary For Unity

Wallace asked Romney, “Senator, do you support holding this impeachment trial, and what do you think the rules should be on the length of the trial and whether or not to call witnesses?”

Romney replied, “Well, we’re certainly going to have a trial. I wish that weren’t necessary, with the president’s conduct with regard to the call to the secretary of state in Georgia as well as the incitation towards the insurrection that led to the attack on the Capital calls for a trial.”

Then the anti-Trump Republican suggested that the impeachment could bring more unity for the U.S.

“If we are going to have unity in our country, I think it’s important to recognize the need for accountability, for truth, and justice,” Romney said.

Romney: ‘Pretty Clear’ Trump Spent A Year Trying To ‘Corrupt The Election’

He added, “So I think there will be a trial, and I hope it goes as quickly as possible, but that’s up to the council on both sides.”

Romney said it has been “pretty clear” over the last year and Trump had been trying to corrupt the election.

“I think it’s pretty clear that over the last year or so there has been an effort to corrupt the election of the United States and it was not by President Biden, it was by President Trump and that corruption we saw with regards to the conduct in Ukraine as well as the call to Secretary of state Raffensperger as well as the in citation to insurrection.”

Romney has a long history of anti-Trump sentiment.

Romney was the only Republican Senator to vote to convict President Trump during the first impeachment trial. 

In 2016, Romney famously gave a “Never Trump” speech when it became clear that Trump was likely to win the Republican nomination for President.

RELATED: Joy Behar Comes Unglued – Says Trump ‘Made It His Business For Four Years To Rape This Country’

The Utah senator finished his interview with Wallace by saying Trump provoked an attack on American democracy.

“I mean, this is obviously very serious and an attack on the very foundation of our democracy, and it is something that has to be considered and resolved,” Romney added.

Watch:

The post Mitt Romney Suggests Trump Impeachment Necessary For ‘Unity In Our Country’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

Democratic Senator Hirono Reveals Real Goal Behind Trump Impeachment Effort

Posted on by LifeZette

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, spoke out on Saturday to reveal what the real goal behind the impeachment effort against former President Donald Trump.

Hirono Reveals Real Goal Of Impeachment 

While appearing on MSNBC, Hirono said that the true goal of the impeachment push against Trump is to hold him accountable for the “violent insurrection” and prevent him from running for office again.

“It’s very clear, Tiffany, that we need to not only hold the president accountable through an impeachment trial but to get on with passing a COVID relief bill,” she said.

“And we can do both. Much of this depends on Mitch McConnell’s willingness to do the right thing for the American people,” she continued. “So, that’s where we are, Tiffany. I know we can do both. All it takes is will on the parts of the Republicans at this point.”

“Whether 17 of them will go along to convict this president of what we all experienced as a violent insurrection at the Capitol remains to be seen,” Hirono added. “I think a few of them will, but I don’t know that we’re going to get 17. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t proceed to hold this president accountable, and that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t stop him from ever seeking elected office again, and that just takes a majority vote.”

Related: Pelosi Sending Impeachment Article to Senate Monday, GOP Senators Warn McConnell Against Vote To Convict

Klobuchar Chimes In

This comes as Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) also spoke out to claim that Americans are “going to get more and more evidence over the next few weeks” about Trump’s alleged insurrection.

“I thoroughly believe that we can handle this impeachment trial and just as the American people are doing, juggle what we need to get done,” Klobuchar said. “Get the homeland security secretary through. We just had the insurrection at the Capitol. Get people confirmed for Joe Biden’s cabinet. And yes, get people the help that they need. That’s what this next month is going to be about.”

“I think we’re going to get more and more evidence over the next few weeks as if it’s not enough that he’s sent an angry mob down The Mall to invade the Capitol, didn’t try to stop it, and a police officer was killed. I don’t really know what else you need to know,” she added.

“The facts were there,” Klobuchar continued. “We saw it right there on the platform during the inauguration, as you could still see the spray paint at the bottom of many of the columns.”

Related: Freshman GOP Rep Admits Voting To Impeach Trump May Have Destroyed His Career

This piece was written by James Samson on January 24, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:
Biden Accuser Tara Reade Reemerges To Say It Was ‘Unspeakably Hard To Watch The Man Who Assaulted Me’ Be Inaugurated
Liz Cheney Squirms As She Twice Refuses To Say If Senate Should Hold Impeachment Trial For Trump
Reprogramming “Cultists” and Protecting Dignitaries of the Opposite Political Party

The post Democratic Senator Hirono Reveals Real Goal Behind Trump Impeachment Effort appeared first on The Political Insider.