Senate Drafts Rules for Impeachment Trial: No Mobile Phones, No Talking
McConnell and Schumer warned that they will strictly enforce the rules.
The Senate released a draft of rules senators must follow during the impeachment trial. It includes no mobile phones and limits the press.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote this letter to their colleagues.
Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer write a letter to senators outlining access procedures in the upcoming Senate impeachment trial. pic.twitter.com/TZHCkdowdN
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) January 15, 2020
They start off with access to the Senate wing on Capitol Hill. Obviously Sentars and members of Congress have access, but staff must have a Congressional ID and a special-issued credential. Official business visitors can only go if they have a staff member with proper ID escorts them.
The two leaders told Senators that if a media organization contacts them about credentials they should tell them “to call their respective Senate media gallery to inquire about obtaining a media credential.”
McConnell and Schumer instructed their colleagues not to stand on the floor. They requested the Senators “to remain in their seats at all times they are on the Senate floor during the impeachment proceedings.”
The staff of the Senators face restrictions on the floor as well. Only those with “official impeachment proceedings duties” will have access to the floor.
Other rules:
- They can’t have their phones: “No use of phones or electronic devices will be allowed in the Chamber.”
- They have to call Roberts by this title: During the course of the proceedings the Chief Justice should be referred to as “Mr. Chief Justice.”
- When they vote, they must stand: “Should votes be required during the proceedings, Senators will stand and vote from their seats.”
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Articles of impeachment were introduced against 5 of the 6 Republican presidents who have served since President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
http://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=385277
Ford during his short tenure was the only Republican the DEMS didn’t “impeach.”
Only because Dems didnt have time to get to him!
IIRC, there was at least a whiff of a rumor of impeachment as the Dems were angry in the wake of President Ford’s presidential pardon of Richard Nixon. Heh.
Um, no, they didn’t impeach any of them until now. Trump is the first Republican president ever impeached.
He didn’t say “adopted.” He said “introduced.”
No, he said “impeached”. And that is wrong, and not what his cited source said.
I suspect that “impeach” doesn’t actually mean impeach.
Quotation marks have meaning.
They didn’t “impeach” them, with or without scare quotes. They didn’t even try to impeach them. Individual members filed resolutions which the party ignored.
Ahhh yes but according to snopes this is MOSTLY FALSE because some of the impeachment attempts weren’t “real” or some bullshit like that!!
Oh my!
My check on Snopes says Snopes is Mostly False all the time.
Snark.
No, it’s completely false because in all the cases cited it is simply not true that “the Democrats tried to impeach them”. One congressman introducing a resolution does not by any stretch of the imagination equal a party attempting to pass it.
It’s absolutely 100% true minus 1 of 6, Ford = 83.33% true.
No, it is not true at all. The Democrats never tried to impeach Reagan or either Bush. Articles of impeachment were at one point or another introduced against them by individual congressmen, but they were not supported by the Democratic Party. That makes the claim that “The Democrats have tried” absolutely false; Snopes is being generous in labeling it only “mostly” false.
You’re denser than pig iron. It wasn’t “individual congressmen”, it was democrat congressmen.
The BS website snopes puts it this way:
“Have Democrats Tried to Impeach Every GOP President Since Ike?”
The answer is 5 of 6. The “individual congressmen” were democrats.
Once again you make a mountain out of a molehill, make yourself look foolish, and all in the service to the progs.
They were individual congressmen, acting only for themselves. The Democratic Party ignored all their attempts.
We now know how corrupt the GOP has been for GENERATIONS, tolerating that kind of craziness without combat.
Well said and 100% too true!
In my youth, people born even before the turn of the 19th into the 20th century often commented that there was on difference in the two Uni-Parties……….
“Tolerating”?! What do you suggest they could have done about it? Congressmen can introduce whatever resolutions they like. Do you suggest changing that?!
When you act like a child you get treated like a child.
What? No throwing feces and bags of urine?
My God I hope they limit opening statements to 5 minutes!
McConnell is making a mistake by allowing this to go forward. If there is no claim of a crime then it is nothing but politics. The American people can not understand what impeachment is if there are no crimes charged. It boils down to policy differences and that is not impeachable. By allowing it to go forward, McConnell will legitimize it and then the precedent will be set. Our three leged government is almost dysfunctional now, imagine what it will become after this sham?
It doesn’t look like he has much choice, given the (at least) three Quislings he has to deal with.
It’s a “crime against the Democrats” which apparently, is the most heinous crime that can be committed in this country.
he is in a position to make that really clear. I think they should call witnesses, the democrats can call any they call in the house, the republicans get to call the ones the democrats would not let them call, plus the whistle blowers(more than one), and all the democrats that called for the impeachment before Pres Trump was sworn in, and with even more emphasis on the ones that called for impeachment of VP Pence
“It doesn’t look like he has much choice, given the (at least) three Quislings he has to deal with.”
*****
Exactly, Mitch doesn’t have the votes to deviate much from the Clinton “Trial” procedures. The “Three” and a few other Rethugs have pretty much said that there won’t be any shortcuts.
PROCEDURE AND GUIDELINES FOR
IMPEACHMENT TRIALS IN THE
UNITED STATES SENATE
(REVISED EDITION)
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CDOC-99sdoc33/html/CDOC-99sdoc33.htm
No mobile phones, no talking.
Okay; so far so good. Now lets have the most important rule,
No Democrats.
What’s the under and over on who starts screaming on the democrat side?
My money is on Spartacus or Kamala
100 “Presidents in waiting”, who love nothing more than hearing themselves talk, are going to remain completely silent for weeks?
I’ll believe it when I see it.
they want you to elect them to fix the problems they caused
No chewing gum on line, either!
Unless they’ve brought enough for everyone.
The democrats that ran and are still running for the office of President should have to recuse themselves. They aren’t unbiased participants.
A senator has made this very statement. Frankly, it is one which there is little argument against. By their being declared candidates to take the job of the person they are supposed to be sitting in judgement of, they have already declared their position, which cannot be unbiased.
Of course most have made up their minds on this sham already, but the 4 running for the nomination can’t really hide behind a pretense of being impartial to the outcome, and given their poor polling, this is a direct action which could improve their odds.
Let us be clear –
The real problem here are the republicans that could put this sham deep in the ground. They are just as bad, every bit as bad, as the Pelosi/AOC/Schiff party.
all they are interested is getting re-elected
No, they’re not. They may be bad, but they aren’t trying to overthrow the legally elected government and the Constitution. Yes, we have our quislings, but if you think what’s happening now is bad, imagine these Dems with the opportunity they had under Obama – full control of the government.
No cell phones? No talking? How about we make rule #1: NO FAKE ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT. Followed by rule #2: “CASE DISMISSED.” JFC this is beyond a joke.
I think one of the worst punishments they can suffer is to be stuck in the Senate chamber without their cell phones for several hours a day. Plus the fact that they can’t be out fundraising.
Unfortunately, I think the only reason Schumer issued this joint statement with McConnell is because Democrats have peeled off enough Vichy Republicans (Mitt Romneycare & Co) to hand control of the trial to Schumer. So while Trump probably won’t be removed Democrats will likely get to call whatever witnesses they want.
If Schumer did not have the Vichy Republicans firmly on a leash he would have skipped the announcement with McConnell and been doing his usual propaganda blasts to the media. Schumer’s shtick all along has been that the Senate trial is a farce unless Democrats get 100% of everything their way, so why should he suddenly throw in the towel?
Time will tell.
And when they enter the chamber at the beginning of each session of the trial, they have to do the water dance from Rango. Accompanied by the same tinny, scratchy record of “Cool Water.”