Nearly a dozen Senate Republicans have put forth a resolution that, if passed, would seek to dismiss articles of impeachment against President Trump immediately.
“The Constitution gives the Senate sole power to adjudicate articles of impeachment, not the House,” said Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, who introduced the resolution, in a statement Monday. “If Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi is afraid to try her case, the articles should be dismissed for failure to prosecute and Congress should get back to doing the people’s business.”
The resolution would change Senate rules to allow the upper chamber to vote on articles of impeachment if the House fails to send the articles over within 25 days. Pelosi has so far refused to send the articles because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will not commit to having witnesses at the trial.
“Since the start of the impeachment process, Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats have made a mockery of our Constitution and abused impeachment for political gain,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is co-sponsoring the resolution, said. “The Senate has the sole authority to try impeachment. It is the Senate’s duty to take up these articles without delay, and to resolve them in a timely and constitutionally appropriate manner.”
Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa and John Barrasso of Wyoming, who are part of the Senate Republican leadership team, both co-sponsored the resolution as well. GOP Sens. Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Braun of Indiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Steve Daines of Montana, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, David Perdue of Georgia, and James Inhofe of Oklahoma have also thrown their support behind it.
McConnell said last week that Republicans could not hold a trial without Democrats sending over impeachment articles, but Sen. Lindsey Graham indicated on Sunday that he is open to a rule change that would allow the chamber to move forward without the articles from Pelosi.
