Impeachment Manager Rep. DeGette: ‘Precedent Says You Can Try Somebody Who Has Left Office’

During a Monday appearance on CNN’s “New Day,” Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) impeachment managers, addressed pushback on impeaching former President Donald Trump now that he is no longer in office.

DeGette argued that there is “precedent” to try someone who is no longer in office. She reasoned that the precedent is “clear” because someone cannot just get away with doing whatever they want in their final days in office.

Host John Berman asked DeGette, “What’s your message to the people — and there are plenty out there — stating it as some constitutional fact that you can’t hold a trial for a former president?”

“Well, the precedent says you can try somebody who has left office,” DeGette replied. “The precedent is clear, but also the reason is, you can’t just say, ‘OK, if you are president, you can just do anything you want the last few weeks of your presidency with no consequence because then you couldn’t be tried.’ That’s not a good result. … The most telling example that you could see is what just happened where you have a president who incites a crowd to go and try to stop the certification of a legitimate election. You can’t just say, ‘Oh well, now you left office. So, no harm, no foul.’ That’s not the way it works.”

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