The Trump Watch: Sen. McConnell's Impeachment Positions - When Sen. McConnell gave his speech on the Senate floor after his vote acquitting former President Donald Trump, the bulk of it excoriated Trump for his actions of inciting a riot in the Capitol; however, instead of leading up to justifying a vote of guilty, McConnell ended up explaining his vote to acquit McConnell by saying, in part: "There is no question former President Trump bears moral responsibility. His supporters stormed the Capitol because of the unhinged falsehoods he shouted into the world's biggest megaphone." "His behavior during and after the chaos was also unconscionable, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the riot to praising the criminals after it ended." McConnell even described Trump as seeming to be "happy" as he watched television coverage of the riot.
The gist of McConnell's rationale for voting to acquit Trump is as follows: There is unbreakable linkage between the provision in the Constitution that authorizes the impeachment of the president, and the provision that calls for removal from office. Therefore, since Trump was a private citizen when the trial was held, he had already been removed from office, thus breaking the linkage.
McConnell's own actions weaken his case for voting to acquit; also, there is precedent that is contrary to Trump's reading of the impeachment clause in the Constitution. Many constitutional scholars also disagree with the contention of Trump's defense lawyers that his January 6th speech was protected free speech.
1.) The House of Representatives properly approved an article of impeachment on January 13th,while Trump was still president, they were turned aside at the Senate door.
2.) McConnell, while still Senate Majority Leader, insisted on a trial date starting after Trump would no longer be president, meaning that it would be a sham, or show, trail.
3;) The House managers had made the point that there was no January exception in the Constitution to block the impeachment for presidential action occurring in January.
4l) Senate jurisdiction had been established by required majority votes -- there were actually two majority votes to establish Senate jurisdiction. Therefore, McConnell could not make a lack of jurisdiction argument.
5,) There was precedent for impeaching a civil officer who was no longer in office.
The Secretary of War, William Belknap, was determined to have accepted bribes dating back to 1870. In 1876, while the House was debating whether to impeach him, Belknap raced back to the White House and resigned. The House voted unanimously to impeach him on five counts, and the Senate decided that it had authority to try former officials, and conducted a trial in April and May 1876. The Senate voted to convict Belknap by majority vote, but since they didn't meet the two-thirds threshold, they had to acquit him.
The Belknap Senate Resolution read: "That it is the opinion of the Senate [that] William W. Belknap, the respondent, is amenable to trial by impeachment for acts done as Secretary of War, notwithstanding his resignation of said office before he was impeached."
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