House Republicans’ Impeachment Fever Is a Gift to Democrats – The New Republic

Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff offers a prime example that there is no stigma in being the victim of a political persecution. Censured by the House last month on a party-line vote for, in effect, being mean to Trump, Schiff just raised a record-breaking $8.1 million in the second quarter for his California Senate race.

Since taking over the House in January, the Republicans have provided scant evidence that they know how to run a compelling congressional hearing. So it strains credulity that the so-called evidentiary hearings leading up to a House vote on impeachment of Biden or a Cabinet member would sway anyone who doesnt already live in the right-wing fever stamps. When Elise Stefanik, who is supposed to be the telegenic voice of the House Republican leadership, routinely talks of the Biden crime family, you get a sense of how over-the-top GOP rhetoric would be during an impeachment hearing (especially one led by Jim Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who is known for intemperate antics and a disdain for suit jackets).

A Senate impeachment trial would provide the Republicans with even narrower room for persuasion, since they would never come close to a two-thirds majority for removal required by the Constitution. Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Senate majority would dictate the schedule and even the rules. Senate impeachment trials have a rich tradition: Chief Justice William Rehnquist even wore a gold-striped judicial robe that looked like a prop from Gilbert and Sullivan to preside over the Clinton trial. But these precedents are malleable, especially since Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has little interest in preordained defeats devoid of political benefit. In fact, NYU law professor Bob Bauerwho is very close to Biden and whose wife, Anita Dunn, is a senior White House adviserargued in a 2019 paper that the Senate may not be constitutionally obliged to hold an impeachment trial.

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House Republicans' Impeachment Fever Is a Gift to Democrats - The New Republic