Rep. Neguse on Trump impeachment trial: ‘It exists for a case just like this one.’
Congressman Joe Neguse, one of two Colorado Democratic impeachment managers for former President Trump’s second Senate trial, argued Tuesday that there was a constitutional authority to hold a trial, convict Trump and keep him from holding public office again.
Neguse, the Democrat who represents Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District, was the second impeachment manager to speak Tuesday at the onset of the former president’s trial. Trump was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives on Jan. 13 on one count of incitement of insurrection.
“Lead manager [Rep. Jamie] Raskin explained that impeachment exists to protect the American people from officials who abuse their power, who betray them. It exists for a case just like this one,” Neguse said. “Honestly, it is hard to imagine a clearer example of how a president could abuse his office than inciting violence against a coequal branch of government while seeking to remain in power after losing an election.”
Neguse, who is one of nine impeachment managers who will present the House’s case to the Senate as to why they should convict the former president, walked back through two particular previous removal cases that he said set the precedents for this week’s trial: that of Sen. William Blount in 1797 and that of War Secretary William Belknap in 1876.
“President Trump was not impeached for run-of-the-mill misconduct. He was impeached for inciting an insurrection – an insurrection where people died in this building. An insurrection that decimated our seat in government,” Neguse argued. “And if Congress were just to stand completely aside in the face of such an extraordinary crime against the Republic, it would invite future presidents to use their power without any fear of accountability. And none of us – I know this – none of us, no matter our party or our politics, wants that.”
Trump’s attorneys have argued in their briefs that because the president is now a private citizen and no longer in office that he cannot be removed from office.
SOURCE ⇒ THEDENVERCHANNEL
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