Left-wing advocacy group Public Citizen filed an ethics complaint against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, claiming that Leader McConnell violated his Constitutional oath in his defense of President Trump during the impeachment charade led by House Democrats. The complaint, submitted to the Senate Ethics Committee, claims that Leader McConnell is not acting as an impartial juror:
“Public Citizen requests that the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics investigate and determine whether recent public declarations by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on the pending impeachment trial of President Donald Trump violate the oath under the U.S. Constitution as well as the rules of the Senate requiring impartiality and warrant recusal from the proceedings,” the complaint reads.
As GOP Senate Majority Leader, McConnell’s solidarity with the president is logical; Speaker Pelosi's impeachment facade is largely unsubstantiated, and even less bipartisan than the trial of former President Clinton. The impeachment saga led by Democrats in Congress, on account of both hatred of President Trump and fear that he will win a second term, has also diminished the dignity of impeachment procedure. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi refused to do her constitutional duty by holding the articles of impeachment passed by the House, in attempt to blackmail the upper chamber. The Democrats' overall credibility on impeachment is also limited because members of the party has been calling for the impeachment of President Trump since the day he was elected; their strategy mirrors that of the boy who cried wolf.
Leader McConnell is not the first juror to stand with the president of his party amidst impeachment. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) not only advocated against impeachment, but campaigned on voting against impeachment during his 1998 election. The McConnell campaign reminded Twitter of this inconvenient fact:
Q: “So a vote for Chuck Schumer is a vote not to impeach the president.”
— Team Mitch (@Team_Mitch) January 13, 2020
A: “Based on the present evidence, that is correct.”
-NBC’s “Today,” 10/28/1998 https://t.co/7gTwjSIUVt
It is to be decided by the ethics committee whether or not Leader McConnell violated his oath, but to say that the Democrats are completely clean of breach of their constitutional duty is divorced from reality. Allies and opponents of President Trump alike can see that impeachment has become a desperate effort to instill fear in the American people ahead of a general election.
