The House has finally delivered the impeachment articles against President Donald Trump. Now the Senate is bound to conduct a trial in which it will “consider evidence” and “hear witnesses,” as that responsibility is acknowledged on its official website.
More than 230 years ago, the founding fathers put considerable thought into creating the process of impeachment and delegating specific powers to both the House and the Senate as they drafted the Constitution in 1787. Alexander Hamilton then took care to explain the founders’ thinking in the Federalist Papers that he wrote to argue for ratification of the nation’s bedrock document.
We urge all 100 U.S. Senators to live up to the faith placed in them and their institution long ago to deliver fair and impartial justice as Trump becomes the third president to face an impeachment trial.
A fair trial means being open to considering evidence gathered in months of House proceedings as well as hearing from witnesses and even receiving new evidence, especially in light of developments occurring since the House approved two articles of impeachment on Dec. 18.
Just before the House voted Wednesday to formally deliver the articles to the Senate, new revelations emerged that an indicted associate of the president’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, says Trump “knew exactly what was going on” regarding efforts to use presidential powers to win personal political help from Ukraine President Volodymir Zelenskiy. Additionally, Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, believed to have direct knowledge of the president’s actions with Ukraine, has said he would testify in the Senate if asked.
The two charges against Trump are that he abused his power by pressuring Zelenskiy to announce an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, potentially the Democratic nominee to challenge Trump’s reelection bid in November, and that he obstructed Congress’ investigation.
McConnell and other Senate leaders have criticized the case against Trump as weak and not supported by direct evidence or witnesses, but that is the point of the article of impeachment accusing the president of obstructing Congress’ effort to investigate claims against him. Witnesses and documents requested by the House were blocked by Trump and the White House.
It would be the ultimate hypocrisy for the Senate to fail to even pursue the very witnesses and documents that it criticizes the House for failing to secure.
We would like to think that the founding fathers’ faith in the Senate to represent the people’s interests in fairly judging impeachment charges was well placed.
We urge all senators to live up to the founders’ faith in their virtue and give the citizens they represent a full, fair and impartial trial on the impeachment charges against Donald John Trump. It is the least they must do to honor their positions of trust.
Excerpted from an editorial in The Columbus Dispatch, a Gannett publication
