The Senate must hold a fair and impartial impeachment trial of Donald Trump, Sen. Patrick Leahy writes in a Monday New York Times op-ed. A veteran of the impeachment trials of five judges and President Bill Clinton, the Vermont Democrat writes that “it will not just be President Trump on trial. The Senate — and indeed, truth itself — will stand trial.”
Leahy calls on the Senate to “reject [Trump’s] stonewalling” because “It should not be complicit in a cover-up.”
”I would not suggest to any senator that his or her oath requires at this time a specific verdict. Whether allegations are proven at trial is an entirely separate matter,” Leahy writes. “But I strongly believe that our oath requires that all senators behave impartially and support a fair trial, one that places the pursuit of truth above fealty to this or any other president.” In issuing his call for a fair trial, he makes clear that he has seen Senate colleagues such as Lindsey Graham and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell saying publicly that they will not behave impartially or promote a fair trial.
”The Senate has a job to do,” Leahy concludes. “And it’s not to rig the trial in favor of — or against — President Trump. Our job is to follow the facts and abide by the Constitution. An acquittal based on anything less would hardly be an acquittal at all.”
But that’s the only kind of acquittal Senate Republicans can offer Trump, and they’re lining up to offer it enthusiastically.
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