Political Quotes

“yesterday, the Senate set a very important precedent that impeachment should be reserved only for high crimes and misdemeanors and not for settling policy disagreements. That is what is the impeachment against Alejandro Mayorkas was from the start: a policy dispute, frankly, to help Donald Trump on the campaign trail. It did not meet the high standard required by the Constitution to remove someone from office. I am very glad the Senate worked its will to set these charges aside. The prudence and cool judgment the Senate showed yesterday is what the Framers would have wanted. They didn't want impeachment to be used for every policy dispute--when you don't agree with a Cabinet minister or Cabinet secretary, you impeach them. That would have created chaos in the executive branch and here in the Senate, because the House could just throw over impeachment after impeachment; and if you have to have a whole big trial on every one of them, the Senate could be ground to a halt. So let me repeat what I said yesterday. We felt it was very important to set a precedent that impeachment should never--never be used to settle policy disagreements. We are supposed to have debates on the issues, not impeachments on the issues. Let me repeat that; it is such an important concept, and I am so glad we stood firm yesterday: We are supposed to have debates on the issues, not impeachments on the issues.…”