Political Quotes

“Madam President, the House impeached Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. He is the second Cabinet official to be impeached in all American history. The last Cabinet member to be impeached was William W. Belknap in 1876. The Senate held trials in virtually all previous impeachments, except for those in which the impeached officer no longer held office. However, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer now wants to effectively pardon Secretary Mayorkas--pardon him from this impeachable offense, pardon him from the impeachment itself--without letting us even examine the evidence. No, the facts are not in dispute in this case. They are not in dispute in the least. If they were, there wouldn't be a need for a full trial. There would however, still, at a minimum, be a need to reach a verdict of guilty or not guilty because in literally every other circumstance in the history of the Republic--unless circumstances have arisen that have rendered the case moot--the U.S. Senate, sitting as a Court of Impeachment, adjudicates the matter, whether through short proceedings or long ones, whether through a trial conducted on the Senate floor or by delegation to a select committee. It does, in fact, reach a verdict of guilty or not guilty, as is the Senate's constitutional obligation. But when the Articles of Impeachment arrive, we have to remember that we have a constitutional duty to hold a trial.…”