McConnell’s Proposed Impeachment Trial Rules Are ‘Big Change from the Clinton Rules’ – By Jerry Lambe (Law and Crime) / Jan 20 2020
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday evening released Republicans’ proposal for the organizing resolution that will govern the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump — just hours before the historic proceeding is slated to begin on Tuesday. The proposed rules would give Democrats and Republicans each 24 total hours to present their case, split between two days. While many have criticized the condensed timeframe, the most notable aspect of the resolution may be its treatment of the evidence collected by House investigators’ impeachment inquiry, which will not automatically be part of the trial record.
JUST IN: Full text of Senate proposal for impeachment trial procedures. pic.twitter.com/LLmoFraOOE
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 20, 2020
The resolution requires the House to file its record – which includes “transcripts of public hearings” and “mark-ups of any materials printed by the [House] or Judiciary Committee” with the Secretary of the Senate.
The aforementioned materials will only be admitted into evidence “after the Senate has disposed of the question of whether it shall be in order to consider and debate under the impeachment rules any motion to subpoena witnesses or documents,” the resolution stated.
This is a drastic divergence from McConnell’s statements about conducting the trial under the same rules that governed President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial.
“All we are doing here is saying we are going to get started in exactly the same way 100 senators agreed to 20 years ago,” McConnell said earlier this month. “What was good enough for President Clinton is good enough for President Trump.”
The conspicuous alteration did was not overlooked by legal and political experts.
Continue to article: https://lawandcrime.com/impeachment/mcconnells-proposed-impeachment-trial-rules-are-big-change-from-the-clinton-rules/
