Purely For What It's Worth.
My friend wrote to our state Senator Lamar Alexander and expressed concerns over how the Senate was handling the trial.
Senator Alexander replied:
My friend wrote to our state Senator Lamar Alexander and expressed concerns over how the Senate was handling the trial.
Senator Alexander replied:
Dear Michael,
Thanks for getting in touch with me and sharing your thoughts regarding the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
Our founders put high bars and procedural steps in place to make the impeachment of federal officials – including the president – difficult in order to ensure our country doesn’t swing back and forth over every minor disagreement. In nearly 250 years, the House has impeached 19 federal officials; of those only 8 – all federal judges – have been convicted by the Senate. Only two presidents have ever been impeached by the House of Representatives, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee and Bill Clinton of Arkansas, and neither were convicted in the Senate.
On December 18, 2019, the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump and delivered two articles of impeachment to the Senate on January 15, 2020. On January 16, 2020, I swore an oath to “do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws” before John Roberts, the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court and presiding officer for the impeachment trial.
Just because the House of Representatives was a circus doesn't mean the Senate needs to be. The Senate has a constitutional duty to hear the case, not dismiss it out of hand. We're approaching the impeachment trial according to our constitutional responsibilities. That means we're going to hear the case, not dismiss it, number one. Number two, we're going to ask our questions and get answers through the Chief Justice. And then number three, we've been guaranteed a right to vote on whether we think we need additional evidence such as witnesses or documents. This fundamentally follows the Clinton impeachment model, which was then adopted 100 to zero. This process should assure the American people that we're giving the articles from the House of Representatives a full and fair hearing.
I am grateful every day for the honor and privilege of serving the people of Tennessee, and I will carefully listen to the arguments, consider the evidence and deliberate with my colleagues before making my decision regarding the articles of impeachment.
Sincerely,
Lamar