WASHINGTON — Missouri Congressman Jason Smith (MO-8) is calling on Democratic Senators running for President in 2020 to recuse themselves from impeachment proceedings.
Last week, Smith introduced HR 774, which would amend the U.S. Senate’s Rules of Procedure and Practice When Sitting on Impeachment Trials. In a letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Congressman Smith compares the senators running for President to the Republican Vice President Mike Pence, who has an obvious conflict of interest in the impeachment of the President and is required to recuse himself. The Senate, which is in Republican control compared to the Democratically-run House of Representatives, can establish the rules of its own proceedings in an impeachment trial, including by precluding members with a conflict of interest from participating in the proceedings.
There are currently five U.S. Senators, Elizabeth Warren, D-Ma., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Amy Klobuchar, D-Mn., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Michael Bennet, D-Co., who are seeking the Democrat Party’s nomination for President of the United States. Smith says they are unable to serve as an impartial juror during an impeachment trial of their political opponent.
On Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee introduced Articles of Impeachment against Republican President Donald Trump. If those articles pass the House of Representatives, they would be sent to the Senate to begin the trial.
