Vice President Mike Pence is urging Senate Democrats to “stand up” and refuse to vote in favor of impeaching President Donald Trump when the impeachment trial beings next week.
In an op-ed he wrote for the Wall Street Journal, Pence compared Trump’s impeachment to that of Andrew Johnson in 1868:
“The question naturally arises: Who, among the Senate Democrats, will stand up to the passions of their party this time? Who will stand up against ‘legislative mob rule’ and for the rule of law? Who will be the 2020 Profile in Courage?”
Pence goes on to assert that a true profile in courage would be exemplified by “a Senate Democrat willing to stand up and reject a partisan impeachment passed by the Democrat-controlled House.”
Tellingly, at no point does the vice president offer any evidence to counter that which suggests Trump has committed high crimes and misdemeanors, even though the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Thursday that the president’s withholding of military aid to Ukraine was indeed a direct violation of the Impound Control Act and therefore illegal.
Instead, Pence tries to pretend that the impeachment of his boss is merely a partisan political exercise, again referencing Johnson’s 19th century impeachment trial:
“Then as now, a political faction has forced a partisan impeachment through the House in the heat of an argument over a difference in policy. Then as now, this faction has cheapened the impeachment process, which the Founders believed should be reserved for only the most grave abuses of the public trust.”
In December, shortly after the House passed two articles of impeachment against Trump, Pence told supporters in Michigan:
“Friends, what’s happening on Capitol Hill is a disgrace. Since the first day of this administration, Democrats in Washington have been trying to overturn the results of the last election, and they’re back at it again today with their partisan impeachment vote.”
Featured Image Via the BBC
