2020 Alabama Senate Candidates React to Articles of Impeachment
On Tuesday, House Democrats unveiled two articles of impeachment against President Donald J. Trump. The first article alleges that President Trump abused his power as the President of the United States “Donald J. Trump has abused the powers of the Presidency, in that: Using the powers of his high office, President Trump solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, in the 2020 United States presidential election,” the first article says. “Wherefore President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law.
The second article alleges that President Trump obstructed justice. The article charged that President Trump “directed the unprecedented, categorical and indiscriminate defiance of subpoenas issued by the House of Representatives pursuant to its ‘sole power of impeachment.”
The 2020 Alabama Senate candidates had plenty to say about these articles.
On the same day that the articles were unveiled, Congressman Bradley Byrne (R-Mobile) tweeted the following:
“Democrats have wanted to impeach Donald Trump since Day 1 and finally found 2 excuses: 1) The Ukraine call. We’ve all heard about it. NOT impeachable. 2) Using executive privilege – begun by George Washington – not to participate in this sham. NOT impeachable. I’ll vote NO!”
During an interview on Fox News two days before the articles were unveiled, former Auburn University football coach, Tommy Tuberville blasted the impeachment proceedings as “an embarrassment to this country,” and “a scam”.
On the charges of abuse of power and obstruction of justice, former Senator and Attorney General, Jeff Sessions said, “That’s just flimsy,” he said. “That’s flapdoodle. That’s not an impeachable offense. You can just say anything. You make me mad. I’m going to impeach me, you’ve abused your power. I didn’t like what you did. You shouldn’t have done that. I’m going to impeach you. That’s not what the constitution says.”
So far, the Democratic incumbent, Senator Doug Jones has not hinted at which way he will vote on the articles. He has simply said, “What I do believe is this: I do think that Congress needs to do their duty, their constitutional duty, of oversight,”
“My only calculation is my oath,” he said. “And we’ll go from there.”
Dakota Layton graduated from the University of Alabama in Huntsville with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy. He is currently enrolled at the University of Mississippi where he is working to earn his Master of Arts in Philosophy.
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