[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 4 (Wednesday, January 8, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S68]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Impeachment

  Mr. President, I would also like to point out, as I think most know, 
and most of the reporting has reflected this, that Republicans in the 
Senate--and yesterday Leader McConnell made the statement--are prepared 
to take up the Articles of Impeachment when they are delivered to us by 
the House of Representatives. For whatever reason--and it appears that 
the House Democrats under Speaker Pelosi have determined that it is to 
their political advantage for some reason to hang on to those articles 
and to perhaps game this out a little bit. We, of course, don't know 
what that gains them. But in any event, they have not yet, after now 
several weeks, decided to proceed and to bring those over here to the 
Senate.
  I would point out that it can't be because there isn't a process in 
place to deal with those articles when they arrive. Obviously, what 
Republicans in the Senate have agreed to adopt is the Clinton 
precedent--in other words, the precedent that was used when President 
Clinton went through impeachment 21 years ago. At that time, it was 
good enough for all of the Democrats in the U.S. Senate--by a vote of 
100 to 0, a unanimous vote in the U.S. Senate--to proceed to those 
articles.
  All Senate Republicans are simply saying is that is a good precedent. 
It was good enough for Democrats and Republicans back then, and it 
ought to be good enough for Republicans and Democrats today.
  What that simply provides for is to allow both sides--the managers in 
the House to come over and make their argument; the President and his 
team to be able to put up their defense; Senators to have an 
opportunity to listen to those arguments and then to propound 
questions, to ask questions through the Chair that could be responded 
to, and then, at that time, to determine whether additional 
information, evidence, witnesses, et cetera, could be brought forward. 
But as a very straightforward process--one, as I said, that met with 
the approval of all 100 Senators, both Democrats and Republicans, back 
in 1999--the Clinton precedent seems to me, at least, to be a fair way 
in which to proceed and one that Senate Republicans have agreed to move 
forward with.
  If and when the House Democrats under Speaker Pelosi determine they 
are ready to send those articles over here--it seems like maybe they 
are waiting for something to rescue what I think is an otherwise fairly 
weak argument they have to make, but when those articles arrive here, 
we will have a process in place in which to move forward and get this 
trial underway in the Senate and hopefully hear the arguments and at 
some point--I hope in the not too distant future--conclude this and get 
it behind us and move on to the work the American people sent us here 
to do.
  Obviously, there is an election coming up in November. The first 
votes will start being cast just a few weeks from now in the States of 
Iowa, New Hampshire, and other States, followed very closely on by 
Super Tuesday. The election process is already underway, and I think 
that is the means by which most Americans believe we ought to deal with 
our leadership. In a democratic system of government, we have the 
opportunity as people to express our opinions and to voice our views in 
that manner. I hope that is where we can settle these political 
differences and disputes we have.