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RicROC

(1,204 posts)
Tue Jan 15, 2019, 08:50 AM Jan 2019

Impeach McConnell

The House should institute impeachment proceedings against McConnell for his failing his Constitutional responsibilities.
1) He held up the Garland nomination 2) He won't even hold a vote on ending the Government shutdown.

If he refuses to do his job, then move him out of the way.

13 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Impeach McConnell (Original Post) RicROC Jan 2019 OP
Don't think it works that way Sherman A1 Jan 2019 #1
I don't believe the House has that power over a Senator... Dennis Donovan Jan 2019 #2
At this point it doesn't really matter - they should impeach him anyway. Joe941 Jan 2019 #9
Senators can't get impeached. EffieBlack Jan 2019 #3
Members of Congress can't be impeached. onenote Jan 2019 #4
Subpoena his wife and expose all her family business connections with Russian oligarchs njhoneybadger Jan 2019 #5
Yes! FM123 Jan 2019 #6
This is a cunning, underhanded action that republicans KCDebbie Jan 2019 #8
Members of Congress are not impeached. OliverQ Jan 2019 #7
The Impeachment of Senator Blount, 1797 Hermit-The-Prog Jan 2019 #10
+1 dalton99a Jan 2019 #11
While Blount was H2O Man Jan 2019 #12
highly unlikely but possible Hermit-The-Prog Jan 2019 #13

Dennis Donovan

(18,770 posts)
2. I don't believe the House has that power over a Senator...
Tue Jan 15, 2019, 08:55 AM
Jan 2019

...however, the Senate can censure him but, given the repug majority in the Senate, that won't happen, unfortunately.

onenote

(42,854 posts)
4. Members of Congress can't be impeached.
Tue Jan 15, 2019, 09:07 AM
Jan 2019

Each house has the power to expel one of its own members, but that ain't happening either.

FM123

(10,054 posts)
6. Yes!
Tue Jan 15, 2019, 09:31 AM
Jan 2019

There was a great Daily Kos article recently about McConnell and his wife, not only does McConnell have links to China via the Chao connection, both he and the Chao family interlink with the Russians.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/1/13/1825790/-McConnell-and-the-Agents-of-Power-and-Influence?utm_campaign=recent

 

KCDebbie

(664 posts)
8. This is a cunning, underhanded action that republicans
Tue Jan 15, 2019, 09:38 AM
Jan 2019

Might take against the cabinet member spouse of a Dem Sen Majority Leader... Plus we could find out about the Chao families cocaine distributing activities...

I LOVE THIS IDEA!

 

OliverQ

(3,363 posts)
7. Members of Congress are not impeached.
Tue Jan 15, 2019, 09:36 AM
Jan 2019

He can be expelled by a 2/3rds vote in the Senate, or he can be indicted.

Hermit-The-Prog

(33,573 posts)
10. The Impeachment of Senator Blount, 1797
Tue Jan 15, 2019, 11:33 AM
Jan 2019

I see some folks saying McConnell can't be impeached. That's wrong. The power of impeachment lies solely with the House, and the Senate has the sole power to try those impeachments. Therein lies the rub -- the same Senators that elected McConnell their leader would be the ones to try the case.


The impeachment of Senator Blount

For the first time in U.S. history, the House of Representatives exercises its constitutional power of impeachment and votes to charge Senator William Blount of Tennessee with “a high misdemeanor, entirely inconsistent with his public duty and trust as a Senator.”

In 1790, President George Washington appointed Blount, who had fought in the American Revolution, as governor of the “Territory South of the River Ohio,” now known as Tennessee. Although he was a successful territorial governor, personal financial problems led him to enter into a conspiracy with British officers to enlist frontiersmen and Cherokee Indians to assist the British in conquering parts of Spanish Florida and Louisiana. Before the conspiracy was uncovered, Blount presided over the Tennessee Constitutional Convention and in 1796 became the state’s first U.S. senator.

The plot was revealed in 1797, and on July 7 the House of Representatives voted to impeach Senator Blount. The next day, the Senate voted by a two-thirds majority to expel him from its ranks. On December 17, 1798, the Senate exercised its “sole power to try all impeachments,” as granted by the Constitution, and initiated a Senate trial against Blount. As vice president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson was president of the Senate and thus presided over the impeachment trial proceedings. After two months, Jefferson and the Senate decided to dismiss the charges against Blount, determining that the Senate had no jurisdiction over its own members beyond its constitutional right to expel members by a two-thirds majority vote. By the time of the dismissal, Blount had already been elected as a senator to the Tennessee state legislature, where he was appointed speaker. The constitutional conundrum of conducting a trial of an impeached senator has not yet been resolved.

H2O Man

(73,709 posts)
12. While Blount was
Tue Jan 15, 2019, 11:52 AM
Jan 2019

indeed impeached, it is important to place this lone example in context. This was ten years after the US Constitution went into effect, and as the last paragraph notes, it was not resolved after the House took action. In the years that followed, it was agreed and accepted that member of the House and Senate are not considered "officers of the United States." Hence, in the 220+ years since Blount's case, only members of the executive and judicial branches of the federal government can be impeached by the House, and tried in the Senate. While this may seem wrong to you and I, it is not possible to impeach a senator today.

Hermit-The-Prog

(33,573 posts)
13. highly unlikely but possible
Tue Jan 15, 2019, 12:02 PM
Jan 2019

The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. It therefore overrides anything agreed and accepted if those agreements conflict with it. Unless and until there is either a SCOTUS ruling or an amendment which precludes it, the House can impeach a Senator.

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