Donna Brazile, former acting chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Fox News Channel contributor, wrote Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s all-but-ensured acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial will be a “sad day” for democracy.
Brazile wrote in a Fox News opinion-editorial:
The impeachment trial of President Trump will soon be history, and the outcome will go down as a sad day for our democracy.
Although the evidence of President Trump’s unlawful and impeachable acts is overwhelming and growing, the Republican-controlled Senate is certain to fall short Wednesday of the two-thirds vote needed to convict him on two articles of impeachment adopted by the House.
Saying that something will “soon be history” can have a dismissive ring to it. To some people, it just means that it’s done, over, finished, forgotten. But history is never done, nor over, nor finished. And what has taken place over these past few weeks will never be forgotten.
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House Democrats did the right thing in impeaching Trump. Impeachment was necessary, even if removal was always unlikely. As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said: “We have pulled back a veil of behavior totally unacceptable to our founders, and that the public will see this with a clearer eye.”
In October 2016, Brazile was forced to resign from her role as a CNN contributor amid reports she leaked questions to then-Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign ahead of a CNN debate and town hall.
The Senate is scheduled to vote on whether to acquit President Trump on two articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — on the final day of the upper chamber’s trial. All Republican senators are expected to vote to acquit the president, though Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), a moderate swing vote, has not yet announced how he will vote.
On Monday, two other moderate swing votes, Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said they would vote to acquit President Trump.
“I cannot vote to convict. The Constitution provides for impeachment but does not demand it in all instances,” Murkowski said in her Senate floor speech, before adding the president’s removal would amount to “the political death penalty.”
“The president’s behavior was shameful and wrong. His personal interests do not take precedence over those of this great nation,” she caveated.
“It was wrong for President Trump to mention former Vice President Biden on that phone call, and it was wrong for him ask a foreign country to investigate a political rival,” Collins said in a separate statement, adding: “I do not believe the House has met its burden of the showing the president’s conduct, however flawed, warrants the extreme step of removal from office.”
In addition to Republicans, some Senate Democrats, such as Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Doug Jones (D-AL), could vote to acquit President Trump. On Monday, Manchin drafted a censure resolution condemning the president for asking Ukraine to look into allegations of corruption against former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
“I see no path to the 67 votes required to impeach President Trump and haven’t since this trial started,” he said. “However, I do believe a bipartisan majority of this body would vote to censure President Trump for his actions in this matter.”