Democrats have been incensed ever since Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox News' Sean Hannity that there was "no chance" the president would be removed from office. Speaker Pelosi is even refusing to send the articles of impeachment in a perverse effort to extort some last-minute concessions from Senate Republicans. Democrats just led the most flimsy, partisan impeachment inquiry in U.S. history and are now lecturing Republicans on the importance of impartiality. Even CNN can't ignore the hypocrisy.
"I was disappointed to hear yesterday that Leader McConnell declared that he would not be an impartial juror when it comes to the serious charges against President Trump," Chuck Schumer said in a recent Senate speech. "He said it proudly. What kind of example does that set to the country that is looking for fairness and impartiality?"
But in 1999, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer went on Larry King Live and said the exact opposite of everything he is saying now. Schumer defended the right of every Senator to have a "pre-opinion" and explained that the Senate is "not a jury box" because the Senate is "susceptible to the whims of politics" and Senators can be "called and lobbied" by citizens.
(Via CNN)
Speaking on CNN's "Larry King Live" in January 1999, Schumer said the trial in the Senate was not like a jury box.
"We have a pre-opinion," Schumer said, citing himself and two newly-elected Republican senators who had voted on impeachment in 1998 as members of the House of Representatives who said they would vote in the Senate. "This is not a criminal trial, but this is something that the Founding Fathers decided to put in a body that was susceptible to the whims of politics."
"So therefore, anybody taking an oath tomorrow can have a pre-opinion; it's not a jury box," King asked Schumer.
"Many do," Schumer responded. "And then they change. In fact, it's also not like a jury box in the sense that people will call us and lobby us. You don't have jurors called and lobbied and things like that. I mean, it's quite different than a jury. And we're also the judge."
CNN also reported on how Schumer, back when he was a member of the House Judiciary Committee, made his mind up on Clinton's impeachment well in advance, coming out against impeachment in his 1998 Senate campaign against former Sen. Al D'Amato. But now Chuck Schumer is criticizing Mitch McConnell for having the exact same view about the partiality of the Senate that he himself held during Clinton's impeachment.
We have a new story looking at past Chuck Schumer's comments on impeachment. Including repeatedly arguing the Senate was not a jury in 1999 and him campaigning that he would not support impeachment or convicting Clinton in 1998.https://t.co/nPMyvjZE6Vhttps://t.co/LPr1BlfD4O pic.twitter.com/87q7hxKLks
— andrew kaczynski?? (@KFILE) December 27, 2019