WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday rejected an effort by Sen. Rand Paul to declare the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump unconstitutional, clearing the way for the unprecedented proceeding to commence next month.
Paul argued that the vehicle used to potentially convict a former president of high crimes and misdemeanors is “illegal,” since Trump no longer holds public office.
“Private citizens don’t get impeached. Impeachment is for removal from office and the accused here has already left office,” Paul said on the floor of the Senate.
But the Senate voted to reject Paul’s theory by a vote of 55 to 45.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York dubbed Paul’s rationale “ill-founded and premature.”
“If the framers intended impeachment to merely be a vehicle to remove sitting officials from their office, they would not have included that additional provision: disqualification from future office,” Schumer said.
If the Senate votes to convict Trump, it will trigger a second vote taking up the question of permanently barring him from running for office again -- a tantalizing prospect for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has privately expressed his willingness to rid the Republican Party of Trump.
But afterward, Paul interpreted the 45 votes siding with his position as a reason to believe a conviction of Trump is “dead on arrival.”
“If you voted that it was unconstitutional, how in the world would you ever vote to convict somebody for this?” Paul told a reporter afterward. “Ninety-five percent of the caucus voted that the whole proceeding was unconstitutional. So this is a big victory for us. … The vote indicates the trial’s all over.”
Sixty-seven senators -- including 17 Republicans -- would be needed to convict Trump in a trial.
The Senate also overwhelmingly approved the rules that will guide Trump’s second trial, now slated to begin on Feb. 9. The House formally delivered a single article of impeachment to the upper chamber on Monday evening, accusing the former president of “incitement of an insurrection,” that took place in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Democrats are citing Trump’s call to his supporters to “fight like hell” as the primary piece of evidence he prodded them to take violent action. McConnell has blamed Trump for provoking the attack that led hundreds to vandalize the nation’s capital and chase lawmakers out of the legislative chambers, but on Tuesday he voted to support Paul’s point of order.
Paul noted that Trump also encouraged his supporters to march “peacefully and patriotically,” on that day and contended that holding Trump liable for political speech would set a dangerous standard that many Democrats would fail to clear.
“I want the Democrats to raise their hands if they have ever given a speech that says ‘Take back, fight for your country.’ Who hasn’t used the words ‘fight’ figuratively? And are we going to put every politician in jail? Are we going to impeach every politician who has used the words ‘fight’ figuratively in a speech?,” Paul asked.
He pointed to the 2017 baseball park shooting of Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, who was seriously injured by a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders. Sanders swiftly condemned the violent outburst. Paul also raised New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker’s call for constituents to “get up in the face” of some members of Congress in 2018, and California Rep. Maxine Waters’ call to harass members of the Trump administration in public.
“Democrats insist on applying a test of incitement to a Republican that they refuse to apply to themselves,” Paul said.
But the argument of whether Trump incited the mob attack will be litigated in a trial that’s being slightly delayed in order for the Senate to make time to approve more of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees and potentially take up legislation to provide pandemic relief.
