Rounds Votes in Favor of Fair, Impartial Impeachment Trial

Rounds Votes in Favor of Fair, Impartial Impeachment Trial
Resolution closely follows the rules unanimously agreed to during Clinton impeachment trial

WASHINGTON – Early this morning, U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) voted in favor of the organizing resolution that will guide the first phase of the impeachment trial in the Senate. The resolution, which passed 53-47, follows the fair and impartial guidelines used during President Clinton’s impeachment trial in 1999.

 “I voted in favor of the organizing resolution outlining the next steps in the Senate impeachment trial, which closely follows past precedents and allows for a fair, impartial process.”

“The impeachment trial of a U.S. president – effectively determining whether to undo the will of the American electorate – is one of the most serious responsibilities of the United States Senate. Knowing the House of Representatives would be ‘impassioned’ and more likely to succumb to the whims of political theater, our Founding Fathers intended the Senate to be the ‘adults in the room.’ They trusted the Senate, requiring more solemn judgement, to have the final say on whether a House impeachment charge has the substantiality to rise to the level of removal from office.”

“Today, the House managers will begin their opening arguments. Then, the American people will have a chance to hear, for the first time throughout this process, the president’s side of the case. I take my responsibility during this period very seriously. I’m confident that the organizing resolution will allow us to do our due diligence, bring this process to a close in a timely manner, and get back to doing the work that the people of South Dakota sent me here to do.”

Background:

The resolution is broken down into three parts:

o   Opening arguments: Each side will be given up to 24 hours to present their case;

o   Q&A period: Senators will have the opportunity to ask questions, through the Chief Justice (up to 16 hours allotted);

o   Deciding on Next Steps: Following the Q&A period, the Senate will “consider whether…any additional evidence or witnesses are necessary to evaluate whether the House case has cleared, or failed to clear, the high bar for overcoming the presumption of innocence and undoing a democratic election.”[Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Floor, 1/21/2020]

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19 thoughts on “Rounds Votes in Favor of Fair, Impartial Impeachment Trial”

  1. This impeachment is a deep state sham to put pressure on Trump to slow down his agenda.

    I look forward to a scenario in which he wins re-election, tightens up the White House (surveillance capitalism has run amok), and goes skull shark on this runaway bureaucracy.

  2. So, I have a disagreement with one thing: “effectively determining whether to undo the will of the American electorate.” There’s no time machine to impeachment: if the Senate votes to remove Trump from office, he’ll still have been President up until then. Everything he did stays done. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act doesn’t get unsigned, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh and a slew of lower court judges don’t get unappointed, Hillary Clinton doesn’t get to remake all the decisions he’s since January 2017 (or makes the decisions going forward, his vice-President does – and it was the will of the American electorate that Mije Pence be his backup).

    If President Trump has secretly had cancer and he dies before this impeachment trial ends, we* won’t say God has undone the will of the American electorate. I don’t think anything makes not finishing a full term because of impeachment different from not finishing a full term because of death.

    *Some cranks will probably say he was murdered so the Senate disn’t have to vote, but I mean people who aren’t imaginatively paranoid idiots.

    1. “Everything he did stays done”

      The spirit of the assertion, though, is that the will of the people is to have him in office for his full term.

      I’m looking forward to a conservative American century, capstoned by replacing RBG in the SCOTUS. I want to see a very conservative appointment on that one .. like a John Adams archetype.

    2. The will of the American people under our system is to have Trump serve as President for four years, and if the Dems would somehow get some cowardly Republicans to vote to remove President Trump from office that would be undoing the will of the American people.

      Your second paragraph statement is apples and oranges.

  3. The entire point of impeachment is to “undo the will of the voters”. The founders wrote it in just in case there was a president, despite being duly elected, that was looking out for themselves over their country. It is just as much a part of the political process as the election itself. The idea that impeachment as a whole is bad (which is what the “overturning the will of the voters” argument posits) is the LEAST democratic one out there.

    Let the process play out. He is officially impeached, now the senate will decide if he should be removed from office, everyone will be forced to accept whatever is decided and we will all move forward.

    1. In this case, however, the entire impeachment is to overturn the will of the people. Dems were screaming for impeachment even before Trump took office, before he had done anything, except win. If you think Trump supporters will accept removing him from office via this sham impeachment and simply move forward, think again.

    2. Anyone with an ounce of integrity who looks at the sham perpetrated by the Democrats in the House can see that this was not a legitimate impeachment. It was driven by hatred of President Trump that was evident from day one of his presidency. I don’t know of anyone that is saying that impeachment as a whole is a bad idea; this one is because it was driven by pure politics by the most dishonest bunch of Democrats ever to hold office, and that’s saying something!

      1. “hatred of President Trump”

        They loved him before they discovered that his dad was a Bircher-patriot.

        The ideas harbored by President Trump freak out the mob rule and their mind controllers.

  4. What were the general election popular vote numbers again? The people didn’t want the fraudster in office.

    1. We’re a representative republic, not a democracy, so you have no argument. If the voters didn’t want a fraudster in office how did Barack get in twice? Oh wait: the second time he used the IRS against conservatives like a fascist.

    2. If you think that Hillary is honest and full of integrity you need to have your head examined.

      1. “Hillary is honest and full of integrity”

        If the Clintons are a bastion of morality on Earth, maybe that’s what’s driving so many folks to sign-up to go to Mars.

        The futuristic visions proffered by “Democrats” or “Leftists” is not all bad, but the road they want to travel to get there is pure evil while the methods being employed to implement the system will be abused to the detriment of humanity.

    3. Popular vote smack is sour grapes.

      The electoral college successfully prevented coastal tyranny.

      Population centers are easily commandeered by the enemies of the republic.

      Or, you could put your head in the sand and pretend the Revolutionary War never happened, that wars never happen, and that nobody wants to knock-off the USA.

  5. Thank you for your comments but we don’t want a fair trial, we want an immediate acquittal of our greatest POTUS! His call was truly perfect, and I look forward to the State of The Union when President Trump raises his hands, raises his voice, and yells, “I am vindicated, I am innocent, shame on all of you unpatriotic, socialist, dumbocrats.”

  6. A 2/3 majority is needed in the Senate. Who thinks this is anything other than trying to run out the clock.

    Funny thing is, in sports, that’s a strategy that only works when you’re in the lead.

    Quit stalling and get to the table with real ideas that are not too disruptive to the economy, that maintain US autonomy, and that do not allow foreign companies to come in and pillage our natural resources and intellectual property.

  7. Yep, let this Occupant of the White House and Tweeter in Chief get back to his agenda of wrecking health care and destabilizing our relations with the rest of the world. He’s got more dictators and despots to coo and coddle and to sell condos to. Ukraine still stands so he’s obviously got more work to do for Putin.

    He’s also got to stay in office as long as possible to run out the clock on all those charges of tax fraud, real estate fraud, charity fraud, sexual scandals, and get a lot more money from the Secret Service for his struggling golf resorts.

    It still mystifies me how this orange guy was the best you Repubs could do. Oh, wait, “Russia, if you’re listening…”

    1. “best you Repubs could do” — Anon

      “George Washington was kind of a hack. King George was a much more intelligent and intellectual leader.” — Anon

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