February 25, 2021
Dear Bill,
Thank you for contacting me about impeachment and the 2020 election. I appreciate hearing from you.
I was one of the 74 million Americans who voted to re-elect President Trump, in part because of his administration’s many accomplishments. Last Saturday, I voted to convict him on the House of Representatives’ article of impeachment. Here’s why.
First, I believe-like many conservative constitutional scholars-the Constitution’s text, context, and precedent authorizes an impeachment trial of a former president. Article I, Section 2 grants the House “the sole Power of Impeachment.” Article I, Section 3 grants the Senate “the sole Power to try all Impeachments” my emphasis. It is indisputable that the House impeached Donald Trump while he was president for offenses committed while in office. Thus, the Senate’s power “to try all impeachments” includes his. Furthermore, the Founders’ understanding of the term “impeachment” included application to former officials for actions taken in office. Nearly half of the contemporary state constitutions containing impeachment only permitted impeachment trials of former officials. None prohibited them. Finally, Senate precedent includes impeachment trials for former officials.
For me, then, the question was: Did President Trump’s post-election behavior constitute “high crimes and misdemeanors”? President Trump’s defense team made several accurate observations at the trial. Many elected Democrats did want to impeach him even before he won the 2016 election, and the mainstream media was unrelentingly hostile towards him. Democrats and the media often overlooked, and sometimes condoned, violent riots when perpetrated in favor of causes they found sympathetic. But media bias and Democratic hypocrisy do not excuse President Trump’s conduct after he lost the 2020 election.
By November 7, 2020, it was clear that, absent major reversals in several states, Joe Biden would be the next president. Immediately, President Trump pursued his legal challenges to those results, in all of the swing states where he narrowly lost. I publicly supported his right to do so. He requested three recounts. All confirmed his loss. He filed dozens of lawsuits, but judge after judge-some Trump appointees-rejected his claims of widespread fraud for lack of evidence.
With legitimate challenges exhausted, he turned to legally dubious means to retain power. He pressured state legislatures, including Pennsylvania’s, to overturn state election results, either by refusing to certify them or by installing new electors to vote contrary to their states’ results.He pressured Georgia’s Secretary of State to “find” enough votes to reverse the outcome there. This pressure campaign eventually included members of Congress and even Vice President Mike Pence, whom President Trump repeatedly and publicly urged to unilaterally reject electoral slates that cost them reelection. Of course, the Vice President has no such authority and, to his credit, he refused to so violate his oath of office.
When these efforts failed, President Trump capitalized on his supporters’ anger, which he had fomented, in a last-ditch effort to retain power. He promoted a rally in Washington D.C. immediately preceding the meeting where the Vice President and Congress would finalize his loss. In a 70-minute speech, he repeated notoriously false charges that a great victory was stolen from them and urged the unruly mob to march to the Capitol to “Stop the Steal.”
No one should be surprised by what followed. Massively outnumbered, the Capitol Police were overwhelmed and the mob stormed and vandalized the Capitol. Amidst the ensuing riot, several people died. Officers were pummeled, pushed down stairs, and assaulted with bear and pepper spray. Over 125 sustained physical injuries ranging from concussions and swollen limbs to cracked ribs and smashed spinal discs.
All the while, the President watched. Minutes after learning his Vice President had to be removed from the Senate chamber because his life was in danger, Trump tweeted that “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.” With the Capitol inundated by rioters, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called President Trump, asking for help. The president coldly retorted that the rioters were “more upset about the election than you are.” Even after the dust finally settled, President Trump unthinkably condoned the rioters’ actions: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”
Because of President Trump’s conduct, for the first time in American history, the transfer of presidential power was not peaceful. A president’s lawless effort to retain power was a primary fear motivating the founders’ inclusion of impeachment authorities in the Constitution. President Trump’s desperate attempts to stay in office undermined the foundations of our republic, betrayed the confidence of millions who voted for him, and required a vote to convict.
Thank you again for your correspondence. Do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of assistance.
Sincerely,
Pat Toomey
U.S. Senator, Pennsylvania
My Response:
Good thing you’re retiring. But you know that. When Biden and the illiberal left gets through with destroying the energy sector – especially in PA – you’ll be needing to add additional guards to protect you from your angry former constituents. Perhaps you can move to Montana and put on a disguise when you retire. Your decision for voting to “impeach” a former president is ludicrous. The purpose of this exercise is to “remove” a sitting president – not some Soviet Style Show trial like the Dems and your fellow Rinos cooked up. Exactly what power would you have if by some miracle and an act of God, you actually got two thirds vote from the senate to “remove” the President? If you hadn’t noticed, he’s already gone! I know the illiberal left is still working on his taxes, but there is nothing the private sector can do to convince actual law enforcement that Trump is guilty of any crime. You probably missed the part in Trump’s speech where he implored his rally to “peacefully” protest. The impeachment was clearly a political act cooked up to distract the American public away from the Joe-Bama illegal executive orders. The most egregious being essentially opening up the borders (not just to potential Democrat voters which if successful will end the two party system and marginalize the GOP into non-existence), and turn the country into a one-party Tyrannical state – much like what I am living through here in California. Whether you like it or not, today the GOP is Trump’s party – the Rinos are as extinct as the Dinosaurs. I don’t think it will be long before fellow Rinos like Romney and the rest are “primaried” or forced to retire like you. Whether Trump runs in ’24 or not, his message of standing up for the Forgotten men and women of this country is going to grow – not shrink with time. While you are still holding a seat in the Good ole boys senate, it would be advisable for you to focus on the 75 million or more of us who voted for Trump rather than rationalizing why you think he committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” by rejecting the outcome of this fraudulent election. Anyone with an ounce of brains, knows that the only way to prove that there wasn’t massive voter fraud would be through a thorough audit and an investigation into Software Companies in question and the Supreme Court to actually hear the Texas case which simply quotes the actual language of the Constitution that the State Legislatures NOT anyone else controls the Presidential electoral process.
Article 2 – The Executive Branch
Section 1 – The President
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
The Constitution is clear. State Legislature, not anyone else is responsible for determining the process. But that’s not what happened in your state PA as well as three other battleground states. If the SCOTUS actually applied the words as written, literally there would have to be a re-vote according to rules of your State Legislature – not bogus mail in voter rules justified by the Scamdemic we all know as Covid-19. But you know that. Except for Thomas and Alito, the other members of the SCOTUS showed themselves to be moral cowards. Not sure what you are. Moral Coward or just bought and sold by special interests. In any event. Glad you’re retiring soon. Good riddance.