Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said on Tuesday that she would not vote to convict President Donald Trump when he eventually faces a Senate impeachment trial.
Ernst told reporters that she believes convicting Trump, who is leaving the White House in 24 hours, would be unconstitutional given that he will no longer be president by then, according to CNN.
The senator also argued that that it would be a waste of time anyway.
“Why are we doing this when the President is out of office?” she asked.
Ernst said she has “read arguments on both sides, but he is not our President after tomorrow.”
The GOP senator also swiped at Democrats, whom she claimed “want to further divide the nation” with their impeachment push, according to the Hill.
She is the second senator to come out against conviction. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) announced last week that he would vote to acquit Trump.
Joni Ernst is just as dumb as a post. To suggest she’s just being partisan doesn’t give credit to the depth of her stupidity.
You’ll get your chance to vote on it.
Now sit down and shut up.
Argue that it is unconstitutional to do one’s constitutional duty? So the POTUS could shoot someone on Constitution Avenue and walk away unscathed. Go field dress a fucking moose and leave governing to those willing to actually do it. News flash, he won’t be POTUS when he decides to run again, but I guess that’s ok. Try harder.
After some indictments drop and some money laundering facts come out, these weak “procedural” arguments will seem smaller and smaller.
It’s also a cop out to avoid the larger guilt/innocent argument.
“… and if I didn’t say this publicly, people might ask why I stood with the President over the past four years and didn’t say anything earlier, which would make me look bad as it would suggest I don’t care about my constituents or the citizens of the US. It would be a mess. I would need to explain why I did nothing to stem covid-19 in this country, but those 400,000 now dead can’t vote anymore (or can they?). It would open up questions as to why I supported voter suppression (not that it did us any good). I would have to tell my voters that I didn’t care about Russian interference in the US. Most importantly, someone might reasonably ask me why I supported that bastard who treats women so poorly - but that would bring up the entire Rudy situation and the poor man has suffered enough. I could go on and on and on, but it’s easier to support President Trump and his calls for an insurrection against our tainted and corrupt elections, as that’s what FOX has convinced everyone of importance (my voters) has occurred without any evidence. Why change a good thing? Oh, by the way, where are the lifeboats?”