Byron York's Daily Memo: The coming argument over whether Trump can be tried
by Byron York, Chief Political Correspondent |
| January 25, 2021 08:09 AM
THE COMING ARGUMENT OVER WHETHER TRUMP CAN BE TRIED. Today the House Democratic impeachment managers will deliver to the Senate a single, hastily-passed article of impeachment against former President Trump. A trial is set to begin two weeks later, on February 9. It will be an event without precedent -- the first time in U.S. history that a former president will be tried in a court of impeachment.
Several Republicans are arguing that what Democrats are doing is unconstitutional, that a former president cannot be tried. After all, impeachment is the Constitution's method for removing a president who has been found guilty of of serious misconduct. But Trump can't be removed. He's already gone, having served out his term that ended last Wednesday.
Democrats will argue that the Constitution does not specifically say you can't impeach a former official. They will argue that when Article II of the Constitution says, "The president, vice president and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors," it does not specifically prohibit the targeting of a former president. They will also argue that when the Constitution says the penalty for impeachment "shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States," that means that while removal is irrelevant in Trump's case, the Senate can still, by finding him guilty, bar Trump from ever being president again.
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