Can Hillary Clinton be impeached? Trump lawyer Michael van der Veen says she can be tried under 'new precedent'
Donald Trump's impeachment lawyer Michael van der Veen has said that if the former president were to be impeached, it could be used as a precedent to even try former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a private citizen and all her aspirations to run for political office in the future could be crushed. "This could happen to … the former secretary of state,” van der Veen told Senators on Friday. "It could happen to a lot of people. That’s not the way this is supposed to work," he added.
During the trial, Senator Marco Rubio asked whether the trial of Trump "would create a new precedent" for other former officials including Clinton.
“Is it not true that under this new precedent, facing calls to ‘lock her up,’ a future House could impeach a former Secretary of State and potentially disqualify her from any future office?” Rubio asked, according to a Washington Times report. "If you see it that way, yes," van der Veen said referring to the House Democratic impeachment managers. For the uninformed, former President Trump was impeached on January 13, a week before his term in the Oval Office came to an end, for "inciting" the riot at the US Capitol. Democrats are hoping to have him disqualified from coming back to contest the elections or from holding any other political office ever again in the future.
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On the other hand, lead impeachment manager, Rep Jamie Raskin of Maryland, dismissed Sen. Rubio's question saying it "has no bearing on this case." Raskin further said, "This official was not impeached while in office for conduct while in office." During the trial on Friday, van Der Veen also hit back at Congressional Democrats for trying to frame Trump for the riots at the US Capitol on January 6. He also played a number of clips that showed Democratic leaders using language similar to Trump, including the phrase "fight like hell" that the former president told his supporters hours before the riot. Leaders featured in those videos included President Joe Biden, VP Kamala Harris, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and several other prominent Democratic leaders, according to a Sun report.
Van der Veen also condemned the impeachment trial calling it "constitutional cancel culture." He added, "History will record this shameful effort as a deliberate attempt by the Democrat Party to smear, sensor, and cancel, not just President Trump – but the 75million who voted for him." For Trump to get impeached, 67 votes are needed in the Senate. Currently, convicting him seems unlikely as the Democrats and Republicans control the Senate with 50 seats each. 17 Republicans along with 50 Democrats will have to vote in order to have Trump convicted.
In other news, Capitol Police office Eugene Goodman was the star of the impeachment trial. He received a standing ovation during a break at the trial where it was also announced that he would receive the Congressional Gold Medal. Congress's highest honor is being conferred upon Goodman for his swift action on the day of the riots. He was captured on video leading the angry mob away from the Senate chamber to a different area while lawmakers made an escape.