After 45 GOP senators voted that it was illegal, Republican senators are blasting Democrats for going forward with an impeachment trial against former President Donald Trump, with Sen. Rand Paul declaring the trial ‘dead on arrival.’
Paul of Kentucky spoke out against the trial on Tuesday afternoon on the Senate floor, noting that impeaching a former president would be unconstitutional.
He said in a Twitter message, “45 Senators agreed that this “court” sham is unconstitutional.” To acquit and finally end this partisan impeachment process, that is more than will be required. On arrival in the Senate, this ‘trial’ is dead.
In an interview later Tuesday on Fox News, Paul pointed out that Democrats, including Rep. Maxine Waters, encouraged her supporters to harass members of the Trump administration about the immigration policies of the former president.
Paul was referring to June, 2018, remarks by Rep Waters where she told a crowd, “Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. And if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”
Paul said, “It sounds like an incitement to violence, but nobody talks about impeaching Maxine Waters.”
“So they are putting forward a big irony and double standard and they should be called out on it. No one should be shy to call them out on their hypocrisy,” he continued.
Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Mitt Romney of Utah, five Republicans voted against their party to state that the trial is and should proceed as constitutional.
Together with 50 Democratic senators, those five voted.
In order to find Trump guilty of the impeachment charge of’ incitement of an insurrection’ because of his speech before the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, carried out by supporters of the former president, a two-thirds majority is needed in the chamber.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) questioned why Democrats, when they know the votes are not there to convict, continue to pursue an impeachment trial.
Why do they do this? Why? They have fear. I think Democratic senators are afraid of their party’s left wing, that if they don’t give this trial that started in the House some credibility, they are in trouble,’ Sean Hannity told Fox News.
President Biden, who vowed to unite the country, suggested he could put an end to the trial.
