On Thursday, three Republican senators – Texas’s Ted Cruz, South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham and Utah’s Mike Lee – reportedly met with former President Donald Trump’s impeachment lawyers, according to Cruz and Trump attorney David Schoen.
Schoen called the three senators “very friendly,” a comment that raised eyebrows, as senators are often seen as impartial jurors during impeachment trials. In other criminal and civil lawsuits, jurors are prohibited from meeting or publicly favoring attorneys involved in the case.
Schoen claimed the senators met with them to make sure they were “familiar with the proceedings” before offering their opening arguments on Friday in rebuttal to the House impeachment managers’ case, CNN reported. Schoen found the mid-trial meeting appropriate, adding, “I think that’s the practice of impeachment … There’s nothing about this thing that has any appearance of a fair trial.”
However, Cruz said the meeting was not just about the proceedings, but rather an opportunity to “share our thoughts” on the defense’s legal strategy “in terms of where the argument was and where to go”, The hill reported him as saying.
“I think their job is to clarify how the house managers have not carried their burden of proof. They have not shown that the president’s behavior meets the legal standard of high crimes and crimes,” Cruz said.
Newsweek reached out to the House impeachment managers, Democratic representatives Jamie Raskin, David Cicilline, Ted Lieu and Madeleine Dean, for comment.
Andrew Harnik – Pool / Getty
In a tweet published Thursday evening, Cruz also refuted the idea that the senators are jurors, citing January 2020 Washington Post op-ed by former Democratic Iowa Senator Tom Harkin as evidence.
Harkin’s article refers to Article III of the Constitution, which states, “All crimes, except in cases of impeachment, will be tried by jury.” Unlike jurors, Harkin emphasized, senators can ask questions, raise objections, discuss the matter with stakeholders outside of court, and also impose a penalty.
“The Senate in impeachment is a court – a court made up of 100 judges, not 100 jurors,” Harkin wrote. “As judges, they have to make decisions on a wide variety of issues – the facts, the public interest, how the president’s actions affect our democracy, fairness, history, proportionality and the constitution.”
Before the impeachment processes begin, senators are sworn in. The oath, taken by Chief Justice John Roberts, reads: “Solemnly swear that in all matters pertaining to the trial of Donald John Trump’s impeachment, which is now pending, you will have impartial justice under the constitution and laws: so are you helping God? “
But despite this promise, impeachment remains an “inherent legal process,” said Robert Peck, founder and chairman of the Center For Constitutional Litigation. As such, “senators are believed to have political allegiances and even political interests that could influence their votes,” Peck told WUSA.
[The Senators] were directly affected by the attack on the Capitol and are witness to critical facts, “Peck continued.” Normally, they wouldn’t be able to serve as jurors in a real trial, but they are the only individuals assigned by the constitution the responsibility of attempting an impeachment. “
Both Republican and Democratic senators have pointed to comments from members of the opposing party as evidence that they intend to break the oath of impartiality.
But even if a senator is believed to have violated their impartiality pledge, they have only one of two consequences: being voted from office by their voters or expelled from the Senate by a two-thirds majority.