Why the Dems cannot cowardly move to impeach Trump?
The Democrats are playing pure politics, but there is a certainty they cannot immediately move to impeach Trump because there are rules in the Senate.
They may proceed with an impeachment motion in the Congress, but for it to go the Senate it will have to wait until Jan. 20.
On Jan 20th, Joe Biden takes office as the new President of America. This means it will be too late to remove Trump from office before Biden takes office. Unless Mr Biden decides he will not take office, which will not happen.
“The case cannot come to trial in the Senate. Because the Senate has rules, and the rules would not allow the case to come to trial until, according to the majority leader, until 1 p.m. on January 20th, an hour after President Trump leaves office,” Alan Dershowitz says in a Fox Business interview on Sunday.
IMPEACHING A FORMER PRESIDENT?
The Harvard Law professor emeritus also says the constitution does not allow for impeaching a former president. He argues the constitution says the President shall be removed from office upon impeachment, it does not say the former president.
The Dems are claiming they will and they can impeach Trump after he leaves office. But Dershowitz says, “And the Constitution specifically says, ‘The President shall be removed from office upon impeachment.’ It doesn’t say the former president. Congress has no power to impeach or try a private citizen, whether it be a private citizen named Donald Trump or named Barack Obama or anyone else.”
House Democrats have proposed articles of impeachment after Trump made a speech to protesters near the Capitol.
The mainstream media, the Dems and critics of Trump have claimed he incited the crowd into violence before a group stormed the Capitol building.
Trump told the crowd beforehand that their protest shows “the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country” and “let us walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.” The president did not tell the protesters to breach the Capitol or commit acts of violence and later condemned them.
At one point, Trump told the protesters to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices be heard.”
DANGEROUS PRECEDENT
Law professor Jonathan Turley says impeaching Trump over his speech would set a dangerous precedent.
“When I testified in the impeachment hearings of Trump and Bill Clinton, I noted that an article of impeachment does not have to be based on any clear crime but that Congress has looked to the criminal code to weigh impeachment offenses,” he said in an opinion piece.
“For this controversy now, any such comparison would dispel claims of criminal incitement. Despite broad and justified condemnation of his words, Trump never actually called for violence or riots. But he urged his supporters to march on the Capitol to raise their opposition to the certification of electoral votes and to back the recent challenges made by a few members of Congress.”