GOP senators have added a “kill switch” option to impeachment trial rules, allowing President Trump’s team to move to dismiss should Democrats needlessly drag out the process.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has reportedly finalized the rule. “I am familiar with the resolution as it stood a day or two ago,” Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told Axios. “My understanding is that the resolution will give the president’s team the option to either move to judgment or to move to dismiss at a meaningful time.”
The “meaningful time” reference indicates the rule would allow the president’s team to request dismissal, not at the onset – which would be a losing proposition since the GOP senators have already reported they don’t have enough votes to dismiss without trial – but later on, should Democrats turn the proceedings into a circus. Considering the manner in which the House conducted its inquiry, the opening weeks of which were conducted in secrecy, it stands to reason they might try the same antics in the Senate.
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Did you know:
Senate Republicans included a “kill switch” in the impeachment rules that alllows the Senate to completely dismiss Democrats’ impeachment articles
The Democrats treated impeachment like a joke
RT if Senate Republicans should move to dismiss Pelosi’s articles
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) January 20, 2020
Preventing an Imponderably Long Trial
The move comes as Sen. Ted Cruz warned Americans that the trial could be dragged out “six to eight weeks or even longer” should lawmakers start tacking on additional witnesses.
Democrats have already been ginning up additional “evidence” in the time House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spent withholding the article of impeachment from the Senate.
Presidential candidates Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg have cynically expressed their hope that the trial is lengthy, which would benefit their campaigns.
This, from @AlanDersh, should be the beginning and end of the impeachment trial.
House Democrats have not alleged any impeachable offenses.
Even if EVERYTHING they allege were true, Senators should still vote to acquit.
Flip the kill switch!pic.twitter.com/gM573mwPfs
— Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) January 19, 2020
Two Steps Ahead of Democrats
Mitch McConnell’s move shows he has been – and remains – two steps ahead of Democrats at every turn.
Hawley took to social media explaining the president “deserves the right during a Senate trial to ask for a verdict or move to dismiss – otherwise the trial will become an endless circus run by Adam Schiff.”
Trump himself has alternated views on whether the trial should be dismissed out of hand, often tempted by the proposition of calling witnesses such as Schiff, Biden, or Pelosi.
“Many believe that by the Senate giving credence to a trial based on the no evidence, no crime, read the transcripts, ‘no pressure’ impeachment Hoax, rather than an outright dismissal, it gives the partisan Democrat witch hunt credibility that it otherwise does not have,” he tweeted. “I agree!”
A final version of the impeachment trial rules may be presented Tuesday. Top Republican lawmakers have said they support giving Trump the opportunity to cut the trial short.
Cross posted at the Mental Recession
