“Members Present”

On Thursday, day three of Trump’s second Senate impeachment trial, two violations occurred that should, but won’t, change the trial’s trajectory.

“No person shall be convicted [of impeachment] without the concurrence of two-thirds of the Members present”

Article 1 § 3 US Constitution

Fifteen to seventeen Senate seats on the GOP side were vacant for the day’s proceedings.

This is after it was widely reported that many of the same Senators who were missing on Thursday made a show of not listening on Wednesday. They read magazines doodled, leaned back in their chairs with their legs up on the seat in front of them, or they did unrelated paperwork.

These are some of the senators who chose not to attend Thursday’s proceedings:

Let’s read Article 1 § 3 US Constitution again:

“no person shall be convicted [of impeachment] without the concurrence of two-thirds of the Members present”

Those last two words are most relevant to my argument.

If they were absent, they were not present and that should disqualify them as jurors. In any other trial jurors who behaved this way would be sent home. I’d like to see politicians follow the same laws as their constituents, wouldn’t you? They should not vote.

To convict Trump in an impeachment trial, 2/3 of those “members present” must vote to convict.

[Counts fingers and toes] instead of 100 Senate jurors, there are 85 eligible jurors; and 67 votes are no longer required to convict. Only 57 yes votes would be needed.

Since 56 Senators already voted that the trial is constitutional, the possibility of 57 yes votes is good.

“We were discussing their legal strategy and sharing our thoughts,” said Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), according to CNN correspondent Manu Raju, 

https://www.rawstory.com/ted-cruz-2650512067/

As outrageous as it is that Republican Senators, the jurors, did not attend the trial, this is worse.

Saying there is nothing inappropriate doesn’t make it true.

In an act displaying unbelievable gall, three of the GOP Senators (jurors,) met with the attorneys of the defendant. Yesterday Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, and Mike Lee met privately with Trump’s defense attorneys.

Ted Cruz’s comment “We were discussing their legal strategy and sharing our thoughts,” means he either thinks we are too stupid to know those meetings should result in swift legal action against all involved, or he so ill-informed (dumb) that he doesn’t know better. He’s shifty, so I’m going with- he’s playing dumb.

https://www.politicalflare.com/2021/02/the-fix-is-in-gop-sens-cruz-lee-and-graham-just-met-with-trumps-defense-lawyers-very-unusual/

So, what is the impeachment team going to do about it? I think Mike Lee is out of “Mulligans.”