If the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump reaches the U.S. Senate, Missouri Congressman Jason Smith asks that some senators step back from voting.
Eighth District Republican Jason Smith filed a resolution to require senators who are running for office to recuse themselves.
“To be an impartial juror, that means you cannot have your mind made up; you have to listen to the facts. And I can tell out right now there are five members of the United States Senate who are all presidential candidates who have stood on national TV saying that they would vote right now to impeach the President of the United States. Those aren’t impartial jurors,” he told Missourinet.
Smith has introduced House Resolution 774, which would compel the U.S. Senate to amend its Rules of Procedure and Practice When Sitting on Impeachment Trials.
Congressman Smith has also written a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, calling for the change. More than two dozen members of Congress have signed the letter.
He says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is “not giving the president his due process and fairness.”
“When you look at the Constitution, the Vice-President of the United States has to recuse himself from presiding over the Senate because of the conflict of interest. He’s next in line for president if the impeachment happens. Well, every senator has to take an oath of office during the impeachment process that they will be impartial jurors, basically. To be an impartial juror, that means you can’t have your mind made up; you have to listen to the facts.”
Smith calls the impeachment hearings “a sham” and says Speaker Pelosi is “abusing her power.”
“The first impeachment vote we had in the House happened in December of 2017. That was a year and a half before the Ukraine telephone call that everyone has seen the transcript of. Nancy Pelosi is only doing what her left-wing squad in the House of Representatives has pushed her that far.”
President Trump says the impeachment effort is bogus and has declined to participate in the current phase of House impeachment hearings. He has refused to cooperate or allow cabinet witnesses or documents to be released.
