"Not sure if the "tinyurl" links require the "s" to be removed so I pasted both to get at least one clickable link"
Any link that starts with "https:" is not clickable on NR for some reason. Posting it without the "s" makes it clickable, but it gets resolved to the secure site.
IMO, the reason the Articles are being held up is because Pelosi wants the Senate to take this seriously. McConnell has already said he doesn't intend it to be an impartial process. How do you hold a trial with no witnesses? He also said it was the House's job to get witnesses and documents - but the WH blocked their efforts to do that. And beyond that, it is routine for prosecutors at a trial to develop and present evidence that was not presented to the grand jury; the gathering of evidence doesn't stop when the indictment is issued.
The GOP and Trump have been whining and moaning that there was no due process. Due process starts in the trial, not in the investigation. They claim he deserves due process, so give it to him where he is supposed to receive it. Nothing the House has done has deprived him of it. At this point, it's McConnell denying him due process by refusing to hold a proper trial.
A REAL Senate trial will give the American people a chance to see and hear the evidence without the distraction of the table-pounding and yelling that the GOP Representatives did during the impeachment hearings - Senators will not be allowed to speak and any questions they have for a witness will be submitted in writing to the Chief Justice. Hopefully, John Roberts won't redesign his robe so that he looks like a Gilbert & Sullivan character the way William Rehnquist did for Clinton's trial...
"There has NEVER been one single senator of the impeached president's same party to EVER vote guilty. ***** [Had Nixon not resigned, this more than likely, would not be a fact today.] "
This is kind of a meaningless observation. Until last week, in our 240+ years as a nation only two Presidents have been impeached. In both cases, the votes to acquit were seen as an attempt to preserve the Presidency because the charges didn't rise to the level of requiring removal from office. In both cases, Republicans broke with their party to acquit a Democratic President.
In Nixon's case, the offenses for which he was accused were so bad - and the evidence so clear - that there were enough Republicans ready to vote against him in the Senate that he resigned rather than be impeached. So it has not always been a partisan process by any stretch of the imagination.
And I'm not sure I can buy the argument that the public is "tuning out" - a new poll released today shows that 55% of voters think Trump should be convicted and removed from office, the highest number yet. That number may go higher as new evidence is developed.
The bottom line is that he has been impeached, and now the House and Senate are trying to negotiate te details on the next step in the process. The impeachment cannot be erased by pardon or Senate acquittal or SCOTUS action - it's there forever. |
