Josh Hawley floats measure to dismiss ‘bogus impeachment for lack of prosecution’
Sen. Josh Hawley announced on Twitter Thursday that he will introduce a measure to dismiss President Donald Trump’s impeachment when Congress returns Monday.
The Missouri Republican’s proposal comes in reaction to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to withhold the recently passed articles of impeachment from the Senate in an effort to compel Republicans to allow witnesses at a Senate trial.
“Dems said impeachment was URGENT. Now they don’t want to have a trial, because they have no evidence. In real world, if prosecution doesn’t proceed with case, it gets dismissed,” Hawley, the former Missouri attorney general, said on Twitter. “So on Monday, I will introduce measure to dismiss this bogus impeachment for lack of prosecution.”
Laurence Tribe, a constitutional law professor at Harvard Law School, panned Hawley’s measure as having no basis in the Constitution.
“This loony idea has no substance. The Senate cannot ‘dismiss’ articles of impeachment that have been voted by the House but have yet to be filed in the Senate. Neither the Senate rules nor the Constitution permit any such move,” Tribe said on Twitter.
Tribe served as an informal adviser to Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee that drafted the articles and championed the idea of withholding them until Senate Republicans agreed to call witnesses.
The House voted 230 to 197 on Dec. 18 to impeach Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The action following an inquiry into his administration’s alleged efforts to pressure Ukraine to begin an investigation into possible 2020 opponent Joe Biden’s son. He is only the third president to be impeached.
Impeachment triggers a constitutionally-required Senate trial that could result in his removal from office if convicted. But with the GOP in control of the Senate, he is widely expected to be acquitted.
Hawley’s office did not immediately elaborate on the constitutional basis for dismissing impeachment, but the senator said on Twitter that his proposal would be a motion to update the Senate impeachment rules “to account for this unprecedented attempt to obstruct Senate trial.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office declined to comment on whether dismissal was an option he would consider.
Hawley has been one of the most outspoken critics of impeachment in the Missouri delegation and has raised money off the issue in recent months.
“This will expose Dems’ circus for what it is: a fake impeachment, abuse of the Constitution, based on no evidence,” Hawley said Thursday.
This story was originally published January 2, 2020 at 4:30 PM.
