House Democrat starts what should be groundswell, demands McConnell recuse himself from impeachment

[babylonsister]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/12/13/1905474/-House-Democrat-starts-what-should-be-groundswell-demands-McConnell-recuse-himself-from-impeachment?fbclid=IwAR29bE0xpypJcz11SzT2GLdVXQASn9Zl6uWUZ8fNiLRFfpc9ND2vaU3pQQw

House Democrat starts what should be groundswell, demands McConnell recuse himself from impeachment
Joan McCarter
Daily Kos Staff
Friday December 13, 2019 · 2:56 PM EST


House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Val Demings, a Florida Democrat, is demanding that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recuse himself from the Senate's impeachment trial.

She accused McConnell of promising the White House to "sabotage" the trial. "No court in the country would allow a member of the jury to also serve as the accused’s defense attorney. The moment Senator McConnell takes the oath of impartiality required by the Constitution, he will be in violation of that oath," she said in a statement. That's in response to McConnell's admission on Sean Hannity's Fox News show Thursday night that he would act on Trump's behalf. "Everything I do during this, I'm coordinating with White House counsel," he said. "There will be no difference between the president's position and our position as to how to handle this."

He would be in violation of his oath, as Demings pointed out, referencing Article 1, Section 3 of the Constitution which delineates "The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation." That oath, or affirmation, every senator will take says "that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of [President Trump], now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws: So help me God."

Demings should not stand alone. Every Democrat—including Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and his team—should join her. And they should publicly shame any Republican senator still capable of feeling that emotion who is allowing McConnell to get away with this.

Sign the petition: Mitch McConnell must recuse himself from Trump impeachment trial.

https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/petitions/sign-the-petition-mitch-mcconnell-must-recuse-himself-from-trump-impeachment-trial

[Dirty Socialist]

1. I Second The Motion

I hope Democrats really press everyone on this. Moscow Mitch has no business overseeing the trial.

[onetexan]

48. +1 -K&R

[DENVERPOPS]

55. You don't think that they

will immediately appoint some one else that will do the same exact thing as Mitch would have done, but not vocalize that he is doing it??????????????

[Bayard]

56. Whoever takes McConnell's place

Would have McConnell standing right beside them, and whispering in their ear.

There is no impartiality here.

[Hekate]

2. I like Val Demings. She's my kind of "law and order" Congresscritter!

[Chicago1980]

44. She's a former police chief.

She knows a bit about the law, in that aspect.

[Hekate]

54. I know. That's why I said what I said.

Somehow, though, I don't think the Repubs appreciate her.

[burrowowl]

3. She is right

[maxsolomon]

4. She is correct; he won't recuse himself.

This is what he acquired Power for. He's going to submarine the trial, and the Bidens will get dragged as surely as if Ukraine had faked a corrupt investigation.

Roberts will look like a statue - nothing to do but sit still.

[2naSalit]

5. She's one of my new heroes!

[Karadeniz]

6. Yes, he should go.

[kacekwl]

7. Like trump he

said it loud and clear. I guess they think it they outright say it it's ok then. If you don't want to honor your oath RESIGN.

[monmouth4]

8. Cynic in me thinks he might welcome this, try to save his backside with his own election coming up.

He would be considered more of a pariah than he already is. Just speculating here.

[babylonsister]

13. I too have considered that. Maybe he

doesn't want the responsibility. I don't imagine he's dumb enough to not realize the Dems would pounce.

[Leith]

9. Absolutely right!

Moscow Mitch is now waving his filthy corruption in our faces like dirty underwear.

He. Must. Recuse.

[keithbvadu2]

10. Along with Lindsey who said he would not look at all the evidence.

Along with Lindsey who said he would not look at all the evidence.

And others who already said 'no guilty verdict' - jury nullification.

[RANDYWILDMAN]

11. Does McConnell even understand what co-equal branches means??

What a toadie.

Let's just announce it now, Trump is innocent....What a joke the Senate has become

The Senate, is now a joke. Tyranny of the minority.

[Lucky Luciano]

51. Co-equal with all branches *

* Democrats not included.

[wnylib]

12. RE: signing petitions

It was here at DU recently that activists pointed out that online petitions are ignored by politicians.

We should ciculate printed petitions with hand written signatures in communities across the country and mail them, via US Post Office mail, to the Senators in our respective states. And copies to Schumer and Pelosi so the petitions cannot be buried by Republican senators.

The petitions will, of couse, demand that McConnell recuse himself due to his open admission of intending to run a biased trial.

[tblue37]

14. K&R for visibility. nt

[sellitman]

15. Lots of luck

If pigs could fly...

[KPN]

19. Yep. Our Constitution is being neutered before

our eyes and not a lot we can do about it except get out and vote in 2020 and hope for the best, i.e, that the election doesn’t get stolen again.

We’ve been badly outplayed in the long game by the Southern Oligarchs and those who willfully or ignorantly joined them.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

43. Hey, with enough thrust, pigs can fly just fine !

[cate94]

16. Agreed, he should recuse himself.

However, I wonder if Justice Roberts would require McConnell to recuse himself, if he doesn’t offer to do it prior to the proceeding.

[kyburbonkid]

17. I just signed it..

With the comment; "Senator McConnell; Impeach the buffoon". I hope that is clear enough coming from the same Zipcode.

[stage left]

18. Thanks for this story.

I just called the Congresswoman and thanked her for her action.

[ancianita]

20. Go, Val Deming from FLORIDA! Give 'em the Jordan treatment, Val! One difference: you have the ad-

vantage of being Right. On.

[bucolic_frolic]

21. I think it's going nowhere, BUT MAKE OUR NOISE LOUD!!!

More citizens must hear and he convinced of the dire seriousness of this impeachment.

[dchill]

22. Moscow Mitch spends a lot of time in violation of his oath.

He is drinking the dregs of his majority.

[PatrickforO]

23. Yes, that surely is a call to make to your US Senators on Monday morning, for sure.

Mitch is a disgusting bag of corrupt bones smelling of his own rottenness.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

24. Moscow Mitch SOLD his vote and now proclaims the trial is rigged

[IAMSPARTICUS]

25. Wake up

Again, I said when I trump was elected that United States would not survive his presidency. Every day I become more convinced. People on this website dark about republicans doing reasonable things.WAKE UP. They care about one thing... Power. They've got it and they're not letting go. I for one, If I can convince my family, am getting the hell out of this country. A country where under the best of circumstances there are 80 million anti-Semetic racist homophobic bigots. And don't forget there are about 400 million guns. How many do you have? None I suspect. There is no good faith on the other side. Those people would just as soon kill us and they have their guns to. Cheers.

[MontanaMama]

26. If McTurtle recuses,

and that’s a bit if, is he replaced by Pence?

[Hermit-The-Prog]

28. VP does not participate in impeachment trial, unless as the target

[AncientGeezer]

27. Turtle will just use the argument....

along the lines..17 of the D members on Judiciary had voted for impeachment prior to any impeachment hearing. They didn't recuse today.

Should they have ALL recused today because they had voted Aye before...that would have left 6 who could vote.
The Senate sets their rules on how to run the trial as the House does for impeachment.. per the Constitution..there will be no recusals.

[Maraya1969]

37. But they were like the prosecutors.

A prosecutor brings up evidence of the crime so they were just acting like prosecutors. Moscow Mitch is supposed to look at all the evidence and make a decision.

He specifically said he won't do it.

[AncientGeezer]

49. "Moscow Mitch is supposed to look at all the evidence.."

Except for that pesky part of the Constitution that says...
"The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two-thirds of the Members present."....
They make their own rules on how to run it.
On day 1 of the trial they could move to acquit with 51 votes.

It's political process not a legal one in the House and Senate. There is always bias. (I watched Both the Nixon hearings and Clinton impeachment and trial..I saw bias)
17 Democratic members of Judiciary had voted for impeachment at least once on the floor of the House before any Articles ever had been considered in the Judiciary cmt..and Chairman Nadler made the decision that those votes of support to impeach MONTHS before..weren't grounds to recuse.

There can be a million signatures on the petition(as of now there just under 3600), there won't be recusals.

[OrlandoDem2]

29. Proud of my gal, Val. Actually Stephanie Murphy is my rep but I like Demings too! Nt

[kairos12]

30. After Merrick Garland, Turtle doesn't care, about anything. Other than his re-election and kissing

Trump's prodigious ass.

[doc03]

31. But every other Republican is just as corrupt as Moscow Mitch. There is not

one of them that would follow the rule of law.

[FM123]

32. So Mitch is openly coordinating with WH counsel - this is like the foreman of a jury

openly coordinating with the defendant's attorney. You are not supposed to do this Malignant Mitch!

[apcalc]

33. How can you shame the shameless?

[TomSlick]

34. Good luck with that.

McConnell has no more regard for his oath than does Trump.

[warmfeet]

35. Over and over

I read opinions regarding how badly the repukes will be portrayed in historical accounts of their heinous actions with regard to defending the orange asshole.

They will be in control of history. They will write the history.

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
― George Orwell, 1984

Believe what you will. Most people do.

I, personally, think we are in very deep shit.

I hope I am wrong.

[Maraya1969]

36. The oath that McConnell cannot possibly take.

>>Friday she cited Chapter IV, Paragraph 5 and also Chapter XXV of the Senate Rules, which stipulate that all Senators must take oaths, and it must state, “I solemnly swear [or affirm, as the case may be] that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of [the person being impeached], now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws: So help me God.”

[KY_EnviroGuy]

38. This is like a juror admitting he's married to the defendant's sister......

during jury selection. Good Kentuckians want to Ditch Mitch. Period......

Read up on some of the recent Democratic Party activity and hell-raising here: https://twitter.com/KyDems

KY...........

[Shoonra]

39. Sorry, there's no recusal from the Impeachment trial....

In the impeachment trial of Pres. Andrew Johnson there were points of order raised about the presence and participation by certain Senators with a personal stake in the outcome - and it was held that they could continue to participate and vote in the proceedings. Namely, the President-Pro-Tem of the Senate, who would become the new US President if Johnson were convicted, and Johnson's own son-in-law.

So there are no regulations requiring McConnell (or any other Senator) to recuse himself.

[dlk]

40. McConnell has announced he fully intends to rig the process & needs to recuse

Moscow Mitch never disappoints in demonstrating how dirty and low he’s happy to go in pursuit of his aims.

[Pepsidog]

41. Moscow Mitch is in lock step with The White House. There will be no trial. Some BS procedural move

will be taken to dismiss the case and poof, impeachment gone. He will never have to take the oath because there will be no trial. Read between the lines.

[ooky]

42. Yep. He's said he can't be impartial. He should sit it out.

But he won't, because he's an asshat.

[C Moon]

45. Nothing's going to stop McConnell. He's a crook and he obviously has ties to Russia.

He'll continue to bend and break laws just like Trump—because there is NOTHING anyone is going to do about it.
Putin found a weak link in our government, and that weak link is that those in control are above the law.
We're just going to have to accept what the senate does (mocks our congress), and look toward the upcoming elections.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

46. Even if he won't recuse himself, he needs to be called out in this way, publicly. . . . nt

[TNNurse]

47. Recusing himself would require integrity which he does not possess.

[ck4829]

50. He needs to step aside

[Wounded Bear]

52. Won't happen, but I support the idea...

[MineralMan]

53. Recuse himself my ass. He should resign immediately.