Hey! Look what I got--From the Office of Senator McConnell [View all]

[Bayard]

Dear ***,

Thank you for contacting me regarding the impeachment of President Trump. I appreciate your sharing your views with me, and I welcome this opportunity to respond.

From the very beginning of this presidency, President Trump’s opponents have been obsessed with impeaching him and nullifying the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Overruling the American voters is one of the gravest acts in which the House of Representatives can engage. Any such process must be conducted with the utmost fairness and transparency. Yet the inquiry in the House could not be described as fair or transparent. It instead was the most rushed, least fair and least thorough presidential impeachment inquiry in American history.

After rushing through an unprecedented, partisan impeachment process citing a great sense of urgency, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sought to prevent a fair and timely trial in the Senate by refusing to transmit the articles of impeachment for almost a month. Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution clearly states that “The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments.” The House can begin the impeachment process, but only the Senate can resolve it. My Senate colleagues and I refused to cede our constitutional authority to the partisan motivations of Speaker Pelosi.

On January 15, 2020, Speaker Pelosi finally conceded and transmitted the articles of impeachment to the Senate. The following day, the trial in the Senate commenced with the swearing in of the Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts. Unlike the House proceedings, the Senate trial gave both sides a fair platform. During the trial, senators heard sworn video testimony from 13 witnesses, entered more than 28,000 pages of documents into evidence, asked 180 questions of both sides, and considered all arguments.

On February 5, 2020, I, along with a majority of the Senate, voted to acquit President Trump on both articles of impeachment. By voting to acquit, the U.S. Senate also delivered a crucial statement for the long-term future of our Republic. House Democrats tried everything to take two presidential elections out of the voters’ hands. They want to cancel out the people’s choice in 2016 and take away their choice in 2020. The framers built the Senate to be a firewall against mindless partisanship. We held the line. We fulfilled our constitutional duty and protected our institutions from the partisan fervor that swept through the House. As long as I am Majority Leader, I will never let short-term rage inflict permanent damage on our Constitution.

Thank you, again, for contacting me to share your thoughts. If you would like to receive periodic updates from my office, please sign up for my eNewsletter at http://mcconnell.senate.gov/, become a fan of my page on Facebook by visiting http://www.facebook.com/mitchmcconnell or follow my office on Twitter @McConnellPress.


Sincerely,

MITCH McCONNELL
UNITED STATES SENATOR