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Impeachment – Senate Trial V

The House of Representatives Impeachment of President Donald J. Trump has raised serious Constitutional Issues. Issues of substance as well as process. The House of Representatives' conduct in this impeachment has raised the issue of the proper constitutional means to commence an impeachment hearing. The rules that The House of Representatives Intelligence and Judiciary committees utilized to obtain the facts have also called into question the Presidents’ Constitutional Rights to Due Process and the Rule of Law in any impeachment. There is also the question if The House of Representatives obtained all the relevant facts for the Senate to make a judgment on the merits of the individual articles in the Impeachment Resolution. In these issues of the substance and the process we, The United States Senate, find that The House of Representatives has initiated and proceeded with this Impeachment of President Trump in an Unconstitutional manner.

The question of “Abuse of Power” raises the question of what constitutes “Treason, Bribery, and Other High Crimes and Misdemeanors” required for impeachment. The House of Representatives has the burden of proving that their definition of Other High Crimes and Misdemeanors is Constitutionally sound and provides objective criteria for impeachment. In this, they have not provided sufficient rationale for the Senate to determine what The House of Representatives' meaning of Other High Crimes and Misdemeanors is, and how it would apply this definition to President Trump or future President’s actions. Additionally, our Constitutional principles require that we only render a judgment of a person’s actions and not his motivations. For, indeed, motivations cannot be objectively determined and therefore impossible to utilize to render judgment. We are also cognizant that under our Constitutional principles a person is innocent until proven guilty. Therefore, The House of Representatives has failed to meet its burden of defining the High Crimes and Misdemeanors of President Trump and, therefore, the proof of the guilt of President Trump of a High Crime and Misdemeanor cannot be established.

As to the question of “Obstruction of Congress,” all Presidents in one form or another have obstructed Congress. The question is if they have Unconstitutionally obstructed Congress? And this can only be decided by an adjudication of the Judicial Branch. For the House of Representatives to be the sole arbiter of what constitutes Obstruction of Congress is to usurp the Separation of Powers between the Branches of Government that are direct and implicit in our Constitution. Until such time as the Judicial branch has made a final determination, and President Trump has not obeyed the rulings of the court, he cannot be obstructing Congress but only utilizing the Constitutional privileges and prerogatives of his office. Therefore, The House of Representatives Obstruction of Congress article is Unconstitutional.

Therefore, we, the United States Senate, conclude that the House of Representatives Articles of Impeachment of President Donald J. Trump is Unconstitutional and should be dismissed. We, therefore, direct that the House of Representatives Impeachment Managers convey this verdict to the House of Representatives as our judgment in the matter of the Impeachment of President Donald J. Trump.