Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., says Chief Justice John Roberts’ decision not to preside over the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump “crystalized” the argument that the proceedings are unconstitutional.
Paul’s comments came Thursday in an interview with The Hill.
Forty-five Republicans voted for Paul’s motion on Tuesday that said the trial is unconstitutional since Trump is no longer in office. Fifty-five Senators, including five Republicans, voted against the measure.
“We’ve long been aware that a constitutional motion is a privileged motion and that it could happen,” Paul said. “We discussed it within our office. “What really crystalized it for me is that about a week ago we were on a Republican conference call and they said the chief justice wasn’t coming.”
“Myself and others were like, ‘Oh my goodness, the chief justice is not coming. That’s a huge, huge signal that there’s something wrong with this proceeding.’”
He maintained many Republicans felt it was deeply unfair that Senate President Pro Tempore Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., would preside over the trial. Leahy had voted to convict Trump on two articles during the first impeachment trial.
“The optics of the chief justice not coming and then also the optics of a person who had favored the last impeachment now presiding over the trial — who’s also going to vote in the trial — it just didn’t look right or sound right to any of us,” he added.
Earlier this week, in an interview with Newsmax TV, Paul declared: “The impeachment is dead; it's dead on arrival.”