#MOTION TO DISMISS IMPEACHMENT TRIAL#

And former presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one.” As Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in his speech after voting to acquit, “We have a criminal justice system in this country. And even then, Senate Republicans claimed (incorrectly, in my view) that because Trump had left office by the time of his second impeachment trial, he couldn’t be convicted in the upper chamber but that the regular courts would be able to sort things out. He was in danger of, at most, not being able to hold office again, not any sort of jail time or monetary fine.

#MOTION TO DISMISS IMPEACHMENT TRIAL#

The idea that the Senate’s trial of Trump - where acquittal was a foregone political conclusion, divorced from the facts that a criminal trial requires - put him “in jeopardy of life or limb” makes no sense.

In the federal criminal case charging him with trying to overturn the 2020 election, Trump is charged twice with a crime that carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, once with a crime that has a maximum 10-year sentence and once with a crime that has a maximum five-year sentence. The other, optional sentence is to be barred from holding any future office, a punishment that would have blocked Trump from his current presidential run. Nor is there any need for unanimity among the jury as in federal criminal cases, as only two-thirds of senators are required to vote in favor of conviction - which thanks to partisanship can be an even higher bar.Īccording to the Constitution, the required punishment for an official convicted in an impeachment trial is removal from office. There is no standard in a Senate impeachment trial that comes close to the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard in a criminal case. First, there is a very clear distinction between impeachment trials, which are political, and criminal trials, which ought not to be. That’s incredibly wrong for several reasons.

According to Trump’s motion: “As the Senate acquitted President Trump, the prosecution may not re-try him in this Court.” Former President Donald Trump outside court in New York on Oct.

But, in an amazing bit of spin, Trump’s team treats the word “convicted” as his get-out-of-jail-free card. Constitution, which deals with the possible sentences for impeachment convictions, specifically the part that reads, “the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.” You might read that and think that it’s bad for Trump, as it clearly implies that an official who’s been impeached can be criminally charged. Trump’s lawyers focus on Article I, Section 3, of the U.S.

Motion to dismiss impeachment