‘If Speaker Pelosi is afraid to try her case, the articles should be dismissed for failure to prosecute…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Nearly a dozen GOP senators are sponsoring a resolution to change the Senate’s rules and allow lawmakers to dismiss the House’s articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump if Democrats continue to delay sending them.
First introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., the resolution states that the Senate’s current impeachment rules do not take into account the Democrats’ political maneuvering, most notably the refusal by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to pass the articles of impeachment onto the Senate.
“The Constitution gives the Senate sole power to adjudicate articles of impeachment, not the House,” Hawley said in a statement. “If Speaker Pelosi is afraid to try her case, the articles should be dismissed for failure to prosecute and Congress should get back to doing the people’s business.”
If it passes, the resolution would give the House 25 days to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate. If the House refuses, the senate GOP would then offer a motion to completely dismiss the articles “with prejudice for failure by the House of Representatives to prosecute such articles” with a simple majority vote.
Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla.; Mike Braun, R-Ind.; Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Steve Daines, R-Mont., John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; Joni Ernst, R-Iowa; David Perdue, R-Ga.; and James Inhofe, R-Okla., have already signed onto the resolution.
“Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are making a mockery of our government,” Scott said in a statement. ” Democrats have wanted to impeach Donald Trump since he came down that escalator four years ago. They just hate Trump.”
Scott said the impeachment amounted to little more than a distraction with more pressing matters to attend to.
“If Nancy Pelosi doesn’t want to send the articles to the Senate, we should dismiss the articles of impeachment and get back to work on all the things that aren’t getting done.”
Pelosi has not said when she plans to send the articles to the Senate, but has instead demanded that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell agree to the Democrats’ terms before she does.
McConnell has made it clear that the Senate GOP will move forward with the trial, and its subsequent acquittal, “without her” if necessary.