01.15.20

Do Democrats Sound Impartial?

Multiple Democrat Senators, Including Some Who Are Running For President, Have Already Announced They ‘Will Vote To Convict’ The President In A Senate Impeachment Trial

 

Despite Talk of Impartiality Today, Schumer Saw A Senate Impeachment Trial As Political in 1999 …

NOW: SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): “I hope all Senators will take seriously the oath to do impartial justice that we seem likely to take in the near future.” (Sen. Schumer, Congressional Record, S.7127, 12/18/2019)

 

THEN: CNN’S LARRY KING: “How can you judge a trial in which you have already stated an opinion or have an opinion? You wouldn’t be --- you’d be thrown off a jury in any court in America, right?”
SCHUMER: “Right.”
KING: “You have a pre-opinion.”
SCHUMER: “The three of us in the House, two Republicans -- Crapo and Bunning -- and myself have all decided we would continue to sit here and that’s precisely for the reasons I think that Joe Biden mentioned. This is not a criminal trial, but this is something the founding fathers decided to put in a body that was susceptible to the whims of politics. I felt that to have my state -- have half the representation of every other state wouldn’t make sense.” (CNN’s “Larry King Live,” 1/6/1999)

NBC’S TIM RUSSERT: “Congressman Schumer, the Republican National Committee put out a statement saying that you were a House member on the Judiciary Committee, you announced that you would not impeach the president of the United States.”
SCHUMER: “Right.”
RUSSERT: “That therefore, you are not an impartial juror in the Senate and should recuse yourself.”
SCHUMER: “… [L]et’s remember this, Tim: The Founding Fathers, whose wisdom just knocks my socks off every day, it really does, set this process up to be in the Senate, not at the Supreme Court, not in some judicial body. Every day, for instance, hundreds of people call us up and lobby us on one side and the other. You can’t do that with a juror. The standard is different. It’s supposed to be a little bit judicial and a little bit legislative-political.” (NBC’s “Meet The Press, 1/10/1999)

… And Continues To Act As If It’s Political Today

“Schumer will force a series of votes designed to squeeze vulnerable Republicans and harm them on the campaign trail …” (Politico, 1/13/2020)

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): “It is unfortunate that Chuck Schumer — who voted against witnesses in the Clinton trial and prejudged its outcome — and his allies are seeking to politicize this process.” (Politico, 1/13/2020)

 

Senate Dems: ‘I Will Vote To Convict Him,’ ‘The President’s Actions Deserve The Strongest Penalty Congress Can Provide — Removal From Office’

MSNBC’s HALLIE JACKSON: “So there is a possibility you’ll vote to acquit him? You could maybe vote to acquit him is what I hear you saying.”
SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI): “No, that is not what I’m saying at all, Hallie. What we have on one side is all of the factual evidence on the House side that led to the articles of impeachment. We have that…. So we have all the factual evidence. What I want to hear from the president is, what are his defenses? Does he have an explanation that exonerates him? Short of that, I’m going to vote on the basis of the facts. And the facts are that he committed an impeachable act and I will vote to convict him.” (MSNBC’s “MSNBC Live with Hallie Jackson,” 12/19/2019)

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): “Trump’s actions threaten our democracy. But the greater threat would be if America became a place where such misdeeds went unpunished. Fortunately, our Constitution tells us in no uncertain terms that the president’s actions deserve the strongest penalty Congress can provide — removal from office. If the rule of law means anything, we must follow its command.” (Sen. Blumenthal, Op-Ed, “Yes, Trump Is Guilty Of Bribery,” The Washington Post, 12/03/2019)

  • BLUMENTHAL: “After lengthy fact-finding & compelling public testimony, the case is clear: President Trump tried to trade away our national security for a personal political favor. Merely soliciting a bribe is bribery. Ineffective criminals are still criminals.” (Sen. Blumenthal, @SenBlumenthal, Twitter, 12/18/2019)

MSNBC’s KATY TUR: “If the vote was put to you today, I know this is an ‘if,’ to convict the president in the Senate and remove him from office would you be voting yes?”
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA): “Yes, based on everything I’ve seen. Yes…. The main subject of the impeachment, which is the issue of yet again, Donald Trump eliciting help from a foreign government to interfere in our election of our president of the United States. In this case we’ve basically got a confession.  We’ve got a display of consciousness of guilt and attempt to cover up…. But based on everything we know, including an admission by this president, I don’t know that it leads in any other direction except to vote yes, which is what I believe I will do based on everything I know.” (MSNBC’s “MSNBC Live,” 10/07/2019)

  • CNN’s ANDERSON COOPER: “Senator Harris, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that members of Congress have to be, in her words, fair to the president and give him a chance to exonerate himself. You’ve already said that based on everything you’ve seen, you would vote to remove him from office. Is that being fair to the president?”
  • HARRIS: “Well, it’s just being observant, because he has committed crimes in plain sight. I mean, it’s shocking, but he told us who he was…. And so Congress must act. But the reality of it is that I don’t really think this impeachment process is going to take very long, because as a former prosecutor, I know a confession when I see it. And he did it in plain sight. He has given us the evidence…. Donald Trump needs to be held accountable. He is, indeed, the most corrupt and unpatriotic president we have ever had.” (Democratic Presidential Debate, Westerville, OH, 10/15/2019)

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): “The president’s actions are impeachable and worthy of removal, and personally I think it would be kind of disingenuous to not share my opinion given how much information I have in front of me.” (Politico, 1/03/2020)

 

Democrat Senators Running For President ‘Ready To Convict President Trump,’ As Far Back As October

“Elizabeth Warren is ready to convict President Trump should the Senate hold a trial over his impeachment. When asked whether she’d seen enough evidence to vote in favor of removing the current occupant of the White House from office, Warren … provided a one-word answer. ‘Yes,’ she told reporters on the sidelines of the SEIU Unions for All Summit.” (“Elizabeth Warren Says She’s Seen Enough Evidence To Convict Trump In Senate Impeachment Trial,” Washington Examiner, 10/4/2019)

  • SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), Presidential Candidate: “I think the evidence is clear. When Donald Trump released the transcript in which he solicited a foreign government to interfere in the 2020 elections, he broke the law and he did that in context of already having interfered with an investigation into the 2016 elections and Russia being invited to interfere in our elections… He’s made it clear that the law doesn’t apply to him and the point of the federal government is to put whatever resources at his disposal to protect himself politically and financially. That is not the case… What he has done is an impeachable offense, and he should be impeached.” (“Elizabeth Warren Says She’s Seen Enough Evidence To Convict Trump In Senate Impeachment Trial,” Washington Examiner, 10/4/2019)

CNN’s DANA BASH: “From what you have seen, is there any chance that you would vote to acquit the president?”
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), Presidential Candidate: “At this point, I don’t see that. But I’m someone that wants to look at every single count. I have made very clear I think this is impeachable conduct.” (CNN’s “State of the Union,” 12/01/2019)

SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-CO), Presidential Candidate: “If there is no evidence that’s contrary to the evidence we’ve already heard in the House and the president continues to obstruct and continues to stonewall the legitimate questions that Congress has had, that I’m likely to vote to convict…. If the facts change from where they are today, I could change my mind about that. But that’s where I am today.” (“Sen. Michael Bennet: If The Evidence Heard In House Impeachment Hearings Isn’t Refuted, ‘I’m Likely To Vote To Convict,’” Colorado Public Radio, 12/18/2019)

 

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Related Issues: Senate Democrats