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McConnell lacks the votes for Trump's preferred impeachment plan [View all]
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/mcconnell-lacks-the-votes-trumps-preferred-impeachment-plan
01/14/20 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
As Donald Trump’s impeachment process moves toward the trial phase, there are a couple of provocative plans the president and his team have endorsed for the Senate proceedings. The first is something called a “motion to dismiss.”
The idea, championed by freshman Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), among others, would involve the Senate receiving the articles of impeachment from the House, only to swiftly reject the charges as meritless. In effect, senators would participate in a cover-up by refusing to even consider the allegations or the evidence.
The president has made clear that he supports such a dismissal, but as multiple news organizations reported late yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) doesn’t appear to have the votes to pull it off. As the New York Times explained:
Senate Republicans indicated on Monday that they would not seek to summarily dismiss the impeachment charges against President Trump, proceeding instead to a trial with arguments and the possibility of calling witnesses that could begin as soon as Wednesday.
In interviews, rank-and-file senators and party leaders made clear on Monday that even if they wanted to pursue dismissal, the votes simply were not there to succeed – at least not at the outset of the trial.
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of the GOP leadership, told the Washington Post, “I don’t think there’s any interest on our side of dismissing. Certainly, there aren’t 51 votes for a motion to dismiss.”
</snip>
01/14/20 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
As Donald Trump’s impeachment process moves toward the trial phase, there are a couple of provocative plans the president and his team have endorsed for the Senate proceedings. The first is something called a “motion to dismiss.”
The idea, championed by freshman Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), among others, would involve the Senate receiving the articles of impeachment from the House, only to swiftly reject the charges as meritless. In effect, senators would participate in a cover-up by refusing to even consider the allegations or the evidence.
The president has made clear that he supports such a dismissal, but as multiple news organizations reported late yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) doesn’t appear to have the votes to pull it off. As the New York Times explained:
Senate Republicans indicated on Monday that they would not seek to summarily dismiss the impeachment charges against President Trump, proceeding instead to a trial with arguments and the possibility of calling witnesses that could begin as soon as Wednesday.
In interviews, rank-and-file senators and party leaders made clear on Monday that even if they wanted to pursue dismissal, the votes simply were not there to succeed – at least not at the outset of the trial.
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of the GOP leadership, told the Washington Post, “I don’t think there’s any interest on our side of dismissing. Certainly, there aren’t 51 votes for a motion to dismiss.”
</snip>
For the first time since this process began, I'm feeling like we *may* have a shot of actually removing Trump before the election!
9 replies
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