Jonathan Turley, professor who called Trump’s impeachment trial unconstitutional, will attend GOP Senate lunch

Professor Jonathan Turley of George Washington University will meet with Senate Republicans over their in-person lunch on Tuesday to discuss the constitutionality of the impending impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump.

Turley argued that the impeachment trial is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer the president. He was invited by the Senate GOP leadership and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Plans to discuss the issue of constitutionality over lunch.

The fact that the constitutionality of a trial will be debated among Republicans – and that a defender of its constitutionality will be their lunch guest – indicates that Republicans in the Senate could distance themselves from the prospect of condemning and barring Trump. his duties, which many have flirted with. following the attack on the Capitol.

“On the face of it, the planned impeachment trial is at odds with the wording of the Constitution, which expressly states that the impeachment of a president is the primary purpose of such a trial,” Turley said in a recent Fox editorial. News. “At that point, Trump will not be president or in office. He will be a citizen and would be better served legally to drop the trial altogether as an extra-constitutional and invalid.”

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“There are good faith arguments in favor of the constitutional authority to pass judgment on such acts and to impose future disqualification from federal office,” continued Turley. “However, according to this theory, any former president could be prevented from running again by the shifting balance of Congress. Impeachments can thus be used for even long-standing scores or curry favor with certain voters.”

Trump, the professor said, could then challenge any efforts to ban him from office in the future, alleging that the Senate did not have the power to conduct the trial.

Many Republicans in the Senate adopted this argument. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., answered that question in an address last week.

“Now I have heard some of my fellow Republicans argue that this trial would be unconstitutional because Donald Trump is no longer in office, an argument that has been outright repudiated, debunked by constitutionalists on the left, right and center, and defies common sense., “he said. “It makes no sense that a president – or an official – could commit a heinous crime against our country and then be allowed to resign in order to avoid accountability and a vote to exclude them from their future office. makes no sense. “

Schumer added: “Either way, the purveyors of this unusual argument are simply trying to delay the inevitable. … Make no mistake: there will be a trial and when this trial ends, Senators will have to decide whether they believe Donald John Trump instigated the insurgency against the United States. “

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Indeed, it is almost certain that whatever objections from Senate Republicans to the legitimacy of the trial, no court would step in to tell the Senate how to run the Senate. Schumer, with 50 Democrats and possibly a few Republicans – and if not, Vice President Kamala Harris to break party ties – will most likely be able to force a trial.

But the constitutional argument that the trial is illegitimate can provide a convenient excuse for Republicans in the Senate to vote against Trump’s conviction while making sure to keep their distance from his post-election conduct.

Trump has huge success in the GOP, and a vote to condemn him by a Republican would likely spark a backlash – and perhaps a major challenge for those to be re-elected in 2022.

House Democrats delivered the article of impeachment against Trump to the Senate on Monday evening, officially starting his trial. But due to an agreement between Schumer and McConnell, Trump and the House directors will present a few rounds of preliminary briefs before the case begins in earnest in the second week of February.

Trump’s impeachment for allegedly inciting an insurgency came after he had made false claims for months that he had won the presidential election. He then rallied thousands of his supporters for a rally he said would be “wild” in Washington, DC on January 6, as Congress and Vice President Mike Pence certify Biden’s election victory in a joint session. Trump repeated his false claims there as other allies who took to the stage used pitched rhetoric.

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Soon after, a pro-Trump mob stormed and sacked the Capitol, forcing Pence and hundreds of lawmakers into hiding.

Trump never explicitly called for violence, but he faced harsh criticism from both right and left for not doing enough to stop the mob.

Even those who did not support Trump’s impeachment in the House, such as Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Said Trump was partly responsible for what happened. McCarthy later returned to that comment at a press conference.

McConnell has left the door open for a vote to condemn Trump, and if he does, he will likely bring some with him to the GOP Senate. But as more Republicans have opposed Trump’s conviction – or the legitimacy of the trial itself – it seems less likely that 17 Republicans will join 50 Democrats to meet the two-thirds threshold needed to convict in the event. an indictment. trial.

And if Trump is not convicted, the Senate cannot hold a ban vote in the future.