Chief Justice John Roberts intervened yesterday for the second time to block a GOP question about the so-called Whistleblower. Now, Democrats are pressuring him to go even further and give them control of the impeachment trial!
Last night, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) announced that he will NOT vote with Democrats to call additional witnesses in the impeachment trial.
While there are still other GOP cowards who could flip between now and the vote, he was seen as the most likely Republican to become the 4th vote that Democrats needed to seize control of the trial.
Susan Collins (R-ME) and Mitt Romney (R-UT) are still going to vote Yes. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) hasn't said how she will vote, but if she votes with them, that will give the Democrats 50 votes. That is one shy of the 51-vote majority they need to pass the resolution.
That should be the end of it. But Democrats aren't giving up. After three years of baseless investigations, they aren't simply ready to accept defeat.
They are now pressuring Chief Justice John Roberts to intervene and break the tie vote!
The Constitution names the Vice President as the President of the Senate. While the role is largely ceremonial, Mike Pence is allowed to cast a tie breaking vote if the Senate is deadlocked on a piece of legislation. When Mike Pence is absent, other Republicans can stand in and serve as the Presiding Officer, but they are not allowed to cast tie-breaking votes. That power is reserved exclusively to the VP.
However, during a presidential impeachment trial, the Constitution does not allow the Vice President to preside. Instead, that job is given to the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Since John Roberts is serving as the Presiding Officer on a temporary basis, he does not have the power to cast tie-breaking votes. In fact, both the Constitution and the Senate Rules require that only member votes be counted during impeachment trials.
Democrats don't seem to care about any of this, though. They are pointing to the Impeachment Trial of Andrew Johnson as precedent. During that trial, the Chief Justice intervened to break two tie votes. Democrats are now calling on Roberts to do the same in this impeachment trial. Not only is the Left pressuring GOPers to flip, but they are also putting pressure on the Chief Justice to hand over control of the trial to them!
We are so close to finishing this. We are so close to finally being able to put an end to this out of control witch hunt.
But the Leftists are refusing to surrender. They are desperate, and that makes them incredibly dangerous!
Democrats are already revealing what their plan is. They are still pressuring Republicans to flip -- and only need one more to do so in order to win. But they also have a backup plan: convince the Chief Justice to join their cause.
That would seem to be a tall order, but John Roberts has already injected himself into the trial multiple times and exceeded his authority. When Sen. Rand Paul asked a question about Eric Ciaramella, the Obama holdover suspected of being the so-called Whistleblower, Roberts refused to read the question. Even though he does not have the authority to block on-topic questions, he did it twice.
That has Democrats hopeful that they can convince the Chief Justice to go even further and cast a vote to hand the trial over to them!
If you had asked me a couple of days ago whether this would even be possible, I would have said 'no.' But John Roberts' actions in the past 48 hours show that he is more than willing to violate the rules to inject himself into this process.
If we win this fight, then the impeachment trial will be over by this time tomorrow. But if Democrats win, either by flipping another Republican or pressuring Roberts into casting a vote, then this sham impeachment will go on for MONTHS.
Please, rise up and help us kill this coup once and for all!
Don't let them win this!
Joe Otto
Conservative Daily
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