President Trump’s lawyers are reportedly exploring the legality of whether Trump was actually impeached after Speaker Pelosi refused to send the articles to the Senate.
Democrats voted to impeach President Trump for ‘abuse of power’ and ‘obstruction of Congress’ on Wednesday night.
Not one Republican voted in favor of impeachment.
Pelosi gave a presser Wednesday night where she threatened to withhold the articles of impeachment from the Senate unless they bow to her demands.
Senator Lindsey Graham called Pelosi’s refusal to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate ‘extortion.’
This has never happened before so there is a lot of debate on what comes next and now Trump’s lawyers are questioning the legality of the process.
Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg reported:
Lawyers close to President Donald Trump are exploring whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to temporarily withhold articles of impeachment from the Senate could mean that the president hasn’t actually been impeached.
The White House legal theory, according to a person familiar with the legal review, is that if Trump has been officially impeached, the U.S. Senate should already have jurisdiction. Backers of the theory would argue that the clause of the U.S. Constitution that gives the Senate “the sole Power to try all Impeachments” indicates that the impeachment isn’t formalized until the House reported the charges to the upper chamber.
Speaking Thursday in the Oval Office, Trump said it was “unconstitutional” for Pelosi not to submit the articles of impeachment to the Senate.
Scoop: Lawyers close to Trump are exploring whether Pelosi’s decision to temporarily withhold articles of impeachment from the Senate could mean that the president hasn’t actually been impeached.
The case is largely rhetorical, but could provide WH and Senate Republicans leverage— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) December 19, 2019
