Sen. Ted Cruz floats idea of 'witness reciprocity' for Senate impeachment trial

Fox News ^ | January 15 2020 | Danielle Wallace

[Alberta's Child]

I heard it on Rush (Mark Steyn was filling in). The caller had zero support. Just said there was a "judge" that they did that to.

The caller had it ass-backwards. He's referring to the case of Alcee Hastings, who was impeached as a Federal judge and convicted in the Senate. His punishment was his removal from office, but the Senate did NOT forbid him from serving in office again ... which is why he's now a crooked member of Congress instead of a crooked Federal judge.

[TheNext]

an elector can vote for anyone who meets the eligibility requirements for POTUS

WRONG.

Free Republic has never understood an elector.

Colonists had zero electricity so communication was via people. Votes are signed & sealed.

Elector votes are UNCHANGEABLE.

And throughout the year 2020, the Free Republic posters will get the Constitution wrong over and over and over ...

[stremba]

A 2/3 vote is necessary for conviction in an impeachment trial. If convicted Trump would be ineligible to run. Otherwise there’s no way to prevent him from running.

A wobbly GOP leadership conceivably could conspire to deny him the Republican nomination, but that would not prevent Trump from running — he just would have to do so as an independent or as another party’s nominee. In any case a Senate vote could not accomplish this. The only relevant Senate vote is the impeachment trial, which requires 67 votes for conviction.

[Arones]

Free Republic has never understood an elector.

Free Republic?

Everyone?

Every single person on the site?

Except you?

Well....congrats.

[iontheball]

Whether they like him or not, Trump is the driving force behind the 2020 election, and it will be epic.
_________________
You’re right, but it never ceases to gall me how hard it has always been for ‘know it alls’ to say anything good about DJT. Yet, I know enough about leadership to understand that great leaders must accept the weight of the yoke brought on by non-achievers who find themselves feeling so inadequate when they stack their limited achievements against those of a true leader. The envoy turns them into unrelenting backbench nitpickers.

[TheConservativeTejano]

How soon we forget Romney and Graham boasted about not voting for POTUS. They certainly wanted a Democrat in the White House in 2016.

Partner, we knew Romney does not like President Trump and Mittens Romney has never even been a conservative. Hopefully, the folks in the Great State of Utah will determine what his fate is later.

If Graham wanted another DemonRatSocialist in office in 2016 then Graham will have to face the folks of South Carolina. Graham needs to go if this is the case that you mentioned. We already know that Graham hung around the McShame senator who died of cancer. A lot of Freepers know that McShame was a worthless senator who rarely did right when it counted on our side.

Like another Freeper mentioned that a President Trump is walking on a tight rope. First of all, President Trump is a Street fighter so that puts the walking on a tight rope out the window. President Trump does want the best for his country and President Trump wants the best for all Americans.

Personally, we think that President Trump has started a great big movement amoungst the American folks who want a different direction for this great country of ours.

The Clintoons gave way too much free technology for the Chicoms and it was free technology and yet the Clintoons made out like bandits by getting huge money transfers to the Clintoon Foundation from the Chicoms. I guess the "Clintoon Dawg" bit us in the behind.

We do not even have a DemonRat party but a DemonRatSocialist party in our midst.

[TheConservativeTejano]

Whether they like him or not, Trump is the driving force behind the 2020 election, and it will be epic. _________________ You’re right, but it never ceases to gall me how hard it has always been for ‘know it alls’ to say anything good about DJT. Yet, I know enough about leadership to understand that great leaders must accept the weight of the yoke brought on by non-achievers who find themselves feeling so inadequate when they stack their limited achievements against those of a true leader. The envoy turns them into unrelenting backbench nitpickers.

Partner, we all are on board the President Trump Train in 2020 and we were on board the Trump Train in the 2016 train against the Socialist Miss Hillary.

How can we forget the 2016 elections when that Sick Woman Miss Hillary did not or maybe could not go to the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and other states.

I will never ever forget the DemonRat Folks crying after the Elections since their DemonRat candidate Miss Hillary had lost the election to President Donald Trump.

The crying for this Witch was something for my eyes to behold forever.

All I could think in my mind after the 2016 election is "It could not have happened to a nicer bunch of guys like the DemonRats."

[John O]

The only witnesses allowed will be those with information material to the two charges, which are 1) Abuse of Power and 2) Obstruction of Congress

An impeachment is first and foremost a trial. A trial has a discovery phase. The democrats have done all their discovery during the witch hunt investigation they held.

Why would you deny President Trump his right to discovery?

He can call ANYONE he wants to if they have even a small tangential connection to the trial. Which means EVERY piece of corruption on the left from Burisma to Jeff Epstein (who did not kill himself) to obama's many scandals (fast and furious etc) to schitt's and nadler's and pelosi's financial records, to pelosi's son working for Ukraine etc etc etc are ALL fair avenues of discovery.

All of these things go to prove that the Hunter Biden Ukraine corruption was just one small part of a RICO known as the democrat party. And as such it is the President's duty to root it out.

[Theophilus]

Cruz is thinking strategically but he may be ignorant that normal people, especially women (even ones who hate the President), hate the impeachment follies and anyone who is seen to perpetuate it for one milisecond longer is an instant loser!

[Jim Noble]

Hunter Biden’s testimony would absolutely be relevant to this, since it would vindicate the President if it is determined that he was a crooked SOB who should have been investigated by the Ukrainian government

So you expect Hunter Biden to appear amid a withering storm of media hostility, take the stand, and say, "You got me, copper. I was taking $83 000 a month to funnel to a secret fund controlled by Barack Obama and Valerie Jarrett to undermine President Trump"?

Is that what you think will happen if Biden testifies?

[Eddie01]

Move to dismiss.

[Alberta's Child]

No. I expect him to plead the Fifth — which totally vindicates Trump for 2 reasons: (1) It justifies his demand for an investigation, and (2) The charges should be dismissed on principle because a key witness’s constitutional protections effectively block the defendant’s right to present evidence in his defense.

[Tallguy]

I noticed that they put old Bug-Eyes on the list of House Managers. I guess they think that makes him immune to being called as a witness?

[stremba]

https://www.fairvote.org/faithless_electors

Sorry but you are wrong. There were electors in 2016 who did not vote for either Clinton or Trump. (Colin Powell technically finishes third in the 2016 election with 3 EV’s).

The Constitution yields the manner of choosing electors up to the states. It most certainly does NOT require electors to vote for any particular candidate. They are free to vote for anyone they choose. In practice they almost always vote for the popular vote winner of the state they represent, but there’s nothing in the Constitution that requires them to do so. Heck, there’s nothing in the Constitution even requiring a popular election to choose electors. All states do so via election, but that’s the choice of each state, not a Constitutional requirement.