Senate Republicans are only hours away from concluding their rigged impeachment trial by acquitting President Donald Trump even though they acknowledge he engaged in misconduct. CNN’s John Avlon, however, pointed out that “acquittal is not exoneration” and debunked all their anti-impeachment arguments.

Even before the House passed articles of impeachment charging Trump with abusing his power and obstructing Congress, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) intended for the trial to be nothing more than a farce designed to let Trump off the hook.

And that’s exactly what Republicans have done, ignoring all the damning evidence and witness testimony along the way while refusing to allow witness testimony during the trial.

Trump and his loyal Republican toadies will soon crow that he has been exonerated. But Avlon burst that bubble Wednesday morning during his daily “Reality Check”.

“Remember this: acquittal is not exoneration,” Avlon began. “And that’s especially true in the impeachment trial of President Trump. His acquittal today is a foregone conclusion, but impeachment will be in the first paragraph of his obituary, putting him in a presidential hall of shame. Unlike the impeachments of Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, it was about something the founding fathers fear: foreign interference in our elections.”

Indeed, Trump tried to extort Ukraine into interfering with the 2020 Election by withholding crucial military aid for the country in exchange for the announcement of a sham investigation into his top political rival.

Avlon then destroyed arguments that Trump did nothing wrong.

“While the president and his legal team argued he did nothing wrong, at least a half dozen Republicans now admit the evidence does not exonerate him,” he continued. “They’ve settled on saying his conduct was improper but not impeachable. Don’t be fooled — it’s definitively both. George Washington warned foreign influence is ‘one of the most baneful foes of republican government.’ John Adams wrote ‘As often as elections happen, the danger of foreign influence recurs.’ James Madison argued for impeachment at the constitutional convention, saying a president might ‘betray his trust to foreign powers.’ This isn’t subtle.”

“What about Trump’s argument that abuse of power isn’t a legitimate cause?” Avlon asked. “Alexander Hamilton put the kibosh on that, saying ‘It was for the misconduct of public men, from the abuse of some public trust.’ Republicans also argued that obstruction of Congress was an absurd charge, citing George Washington’s executive fight with Congress over the Jay Treaty. But Washington specifically wrote that Congress had no reason to see his papers, except that of an impeachment.”

Avlon then took down Alan Dershowitz for claiming that presidents are not impeachable.

“William Davey argued at the constitutional convention, ‘if he be not impeachable whilst in office, he’ll spare no efforts or means whatsoever to get re-elected,’ Avlon said. “That’s what’s at stake today. President Trump hasn’t admitted wrongdoing. And Republicans’ lack of interest even in witnesses could open the door to a massive expansion of presidential power, including foreign interference in our elections at exactly the same time we know that foreign powers are trying to interfere in our elections.”

In fact, Trump will now be more emboldened than ever to blatantly violate the law in his desperation to get re-elected and tighten his grip on power knowing that Senate Republicans will stand by and watch him burn the country to the ground.

“Republicans say the founders never intended for there to be a partisan impeachment, but they didn’t imagine how hyperpartisan polarization could short-circuit our system and cause the Senate to forget first principles,” Avlon concluded.

Here’s the video via YouTube:

Our country is now firmly experiencing a constitutional crisis. Trump is a national emergency that Americans must rise up to challenge and defeat before our republic is lost forever. Because as John Adams once wrote:

“Oh posterity, you will never know how much it cost us to preserve your freedom. I hope that you will make a good use of it, for if you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.”

Featured Image: YouTube screenshot