Senate dropped the ball

After the January 6 insurrection, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Donald Trump for inciting the riot. When the matter went to the Senate for trial, however, the Senate dropped the ball.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell argued on the Senate floor, “Impeachment was never meant to be the final forum for American justice.” He continued, “Trump could be subject to criminal prosecution in the future. We have a criminal justice system in this country.”

Not if you buy what Trump’s lawyers argued in the appellate court last week. Trump and his lawyers are now trying to make the case that since he was tried and acquitted in the Senate impeachment trial, he cannot be prosecuted in criminal court. The exact opposite of what McConnell said in 2021.

McConnell blamed Trump for the insurrection, saying, “The rioters were fed falsehoods by the most powerful man on earth, angry because he lost an election. The former president’s actions that preceded the riot were disgraceful, a disgraceful dereliction of duty. Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.”

But when Democrats wanted a speedy impeachment trial during closing weeks of the Trump administration, McConnell delayed calling the Senate back into session. The House didn’t even transmit the article of impeachment to the Senate until Jan. 25, when Trump was already out of office.

The impeachment trial was held in February 2021, and McConnell and other Senators had already decided, because he was now out of office, Trump was constitutionally ineligible for conviction. They voted to acquit him.

McConnell’s lack of action helped kill the effects of the insurrection in the minds of Republicans. And by that time, leader Kevin McCarthy had flown to Mar a Lago and made up with Trump. Somehow, much of the outrage Republicans felt when they were under siege had begun to fade. Eventually, for those choosing to lie, the bloody riot was described as just a tourist visit.

When the impeachment trial was finally held, only seven Republican Senators voted along with the 50 Democrats to convict him. Ten were needed so it failed. It was a perfect example of fealty to party over loyalty to the Constitution. Claims a conviction would set a bad precedent rang hollow.

The cowardice of Senators was maddening; their hypocrisy infuriating. Worst of all for them, they blew their chance to be rid of Trump once and for all. They missed a chance to rebuild their party. Many Republicans in the House and Senate today indicate they will support Trump if he is the nominee for their party - even if he’ s convicted of one or more crimes.

Trump’s lawyers claimed in the D.C. appellate court on Jan. 8, a president is immune from prosecution because he has the right to do anything as president while in office, plus he should not be held liable once he leaves office for any of his actions as president. That’s their argument. Terrifying, isn’t it?

As usual, there’s little reaction from Republicans at such an outrageous premise. At the Iowa debate between DeSantis and Haley one day later, it was hardly discussed. The idea that a president can do anything he wants while in office and never be held accountable for his crimes is so nonsensical, it should make patriotic, law-abiding citizens want to tear their hair out.

It’s highly unlikely Trump’s argument will fly with the appellate court, but it will head next to the Supreme Court. It would seem the United States Supreme Court will not stand for the idea a president has immunity from the law. Surely the justices will determine a former president must be held accountable for crimes committed while in office.

Even Nixon was assumed to be in jeopardy for prosecution, or he wouldn’t have been pardoned by Ford. Nixon, too, believed whatever a president did was not a crime. If he had been prosecuted instead of pardoned, we might have avoided criminal behavior by a future president.

This immunity question before the courts may be the most important decision our democracy has faced since the Civil War. The Supreme Court will decide if presidents are above the law.