Republican Senators May Have Already Facilitated Trump’s Conviction and Removal from Office

Photo: Senate Television via AP

By Former Rep. Tom Coleman (R-Mo.)
Contributor, The Daily Caller

As the Senate impeachment trial gets underway, senators will take an additional oath to the one they swore to for their oath of office.

It is very important the first order of business by the House Managers should be to move to disqualify any senator who appears to have violated the impeachment oath just sworn to because of their previous public comments.

While the Constitution requires that the Senate “be under oath or affirmation” when trying impeachments, the actual wording of the oath has been written by the Senate into its procedural rules that govern the conduct of the Senate. The juror’s oath is found in Rule XXV of the Senate Rules in Impeachment Trials. It reads: ”I solemnly swear (or affirm) that in all things appertaining to the trial of ____, now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help me God.”

The requirement of “impartial justice” includes evaluating the evidence, and deciding whether the proven misconduct justifies removal from office. It is beyond question that senators violate their oath if they have closed their minds to the evidence or made public, disparaging statements regarding the House impeachment or prejudicial comments indicating their minds have already been made up prior to the Senate trial.

According to a December 20th New York Times article, the following 13 Republican senators have publicly stated in official statements, on Twitter and to the news media their bias and partiality regarding the outcome of the impeachment trial. The comments should be considered as prejudicial and indicate the senator is unable to grant impartial justice. They are:

Mitch McConnell (R-KY): “We’ll be working through this process, hopefully in a fairly short period of time (be) in total coordination with the White House counsel’s office and the people who are representing the president as well as the Senate,” (CBS); McConnell, speaking from the Senate floor, argued that senators cannot follow the House’s lead and agree that the president deserves to be impeached. (The Hill)

Lindsay Graham (R-SC): “I’m not pretending to be a fair juror” (CNN)

Marsha Blackburn (R-TN): “a sham, a Mueller do-over, an attempt to undo the 2016 election”

Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV): “this is nothing but political theater”

Tom Cotton (R-AR): “a sham impeachment”

Steve Daines (R-MT): “time to end this partisan, impeachment sham”

Rand Paul (R-KY): “this partisan abuse of power…put an end to the charade”

Mike Braun (R-IN): “there’s not one senator that would be seated as a juror in a regular trial because you bring that political predisposition point of view into it”

John Hoeven (R-ND) indicated the President did nothing wrong

James Inhofe (R-OK): “The president is not going to be removed from office—period.”

Ron Johnson (R-WI): “The articles of impeachment are so flawed from the House.”

Mike Lee (R-UT): “President Trump has done nothing wrong.”

Jerry Moran (R-KS): “The facts as presented to the public don’t warrant removal of President Trump from office.”

In addition, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) has introduced a resolution to change Senate rules to allow an immediate motion to dismiss the impeachment proceedings. On the House floor in her speech before sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate, Speaker Pelosi said that summary dismissal by the Senate of the articles of impeachment would be a cover-up. For emphasis she repeated, “Dismissal is cover-up.” I believe she is correct. Our common sense tells us that to dismiss the proceedings before hearing any evidence in no way shape or form could be considered “impartial justice.”

In addition to Hawley, the following senators have co-sponsored his resolution clearly indicating their contempt for the impeachment process and an inability to deliver “impartial justice.” Of the 10 co-sponsors, five have already been listed above as making statements against their impartiality. They are Senators Braun, Blackburn, Daines, Cotton, and Inhofe.

The following five senators, in addition to Hawley, are also original co-sponsors of his dismissal resolution:

Jonie Ernst (R-IA), John Barrasso (R-WY), Rick Scott (R-FL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and David Purdue (R-GA).

The total number of Republican senators who should be disqualified is nineteen. This becomes important because if they were to be disqualified, the two-thirds threshold necessary for conviction and removal of the President is reduced considerably from a required 67 votes to 55 (100-19=81 x .67=54.27 or 55). There are 47 Democratic members of the Senate. Assuming the Democrats would all vote to convict, that reduces the need to obtain only 8 Republican senators to support conviction (55-47=8). That’s a far cry from the 20 Republican senators needed for the two-thirds vote if all 53 Republicans were eligible to participate along with the 47 Democrats being present and voting.

It appears that keeping American democracy and the way of life we have as Americans, hinges on the actions of eight fellow Americans who, as senators, have sworn an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic…” The Constitution they have sworn to uphold requires them, when sitting for impeachment, to take an oath written by the Senate itself to exercise “impartial justice.” Will they?

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Tom Coleman is a former Republican Member of Congress from Missouri and has served as an adjunct professor at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and at American University.

01.16.20
FORMER REP. COLEMAN: These GOP Senators Should Be Disqualified From The Impeachment Trial, The Daily Caller