Pelosi: Even If Senate Votes Against Impeachment, “Trump Cannot Be Acquitted”

Here's more, from my friends over at the Western Journal:

Pelosi was responding to a reporter who had asked what she would do in the case of the president’s acquittal.

The speaker stealthily avoided the question.

“We are right now prayerful and hopeful that the Senate will have the courage to hear the truth about the President’s action, and then we’ll see what we do next,” she said, according to a transcript on her website.

But when another reporter asked a similar question, Pelosi had one of her famous temper tantrums.

“When this is over, do you think that President Trump will be chastened and understand that he’s got a Congress watching him? Or will he be emboldened because the Senate will have acquitted him?”  the reporter asked.

“Well, he will not be acquitted. You cannot be acquitted if you don’t have a trial, and you don’t have a trial if you don’t have witnesses and documentation and that,” Pelosi replied.

“I would hope that the Senators, if it comes to a tie, or if there’s a question of hearing testimony or receiving documents, would leave it up to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court – Republican‑appointed, in a Republican majority court.

“I would think that they would have confidence in the Chief Justice of the United States. That’s really his title. And that’s interesting to me — that they’re afraid of breaking a tie with a Chief Justice of the United States.

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“Does the President know right from wrong? I don’t think so. That’s all I can say to you,” she said.

The Constitution explicitly states that the Senate, not the Speaker of the House, has the sole authority to handle an impeachment trial of the president.

Pelosi’s work is done, but she is struggling to let go of the power she had when the House was conducting its impeachment inquiry.

Apparently, in her mind, not only is she the leader of the House; she is also the entire Senate and the Supreme Court too.

An acquittal is an acquittal. It is that simple. If and when the Senate acquits Trump, he will forever be acquitted.

That cannot stop the speaker and her colleagues from impeaching him again, but this one has been so destructive for their party that it just would not be wise.

And from Fox News:

In scathing comments Thursday as her party appeared on the verge of defeat in the Senate impeachment trial, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi argued that President Trump "cannot be acquitted" if the trial lacks the witness testimony and documentation that Democrats have been seeking.

The San Francisco Democrat also fired on Trump's impeachment defense team, saying they've "disgraced themselves" during this week's trial and suggesting they deserve disbarment over their trial remarks.

The comments came hours before Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said he would not back efforts by Democrats to have witnesses testify at the Senate trial – all but sealing an acquittal for Trump.

But Pelosi challenged whether that acquittal would be valid, in remarks that seemed a bid to undermine any Trump claim of victory.

"He will not be acquitted," Pelosi insisted during her weekly news conference, according to Politico. “You cannot be acquitted if you don’t have a trial. You don’t have a trial if you don’t have witnesses and documentation and all of that. Does the president know right from wrong? I don't think so.”

"He will not be acquitted. You cannot be acquitted if you don’t have a trial. You don’t have a trial if you don’t have witnesses and documentation and all of that. Does the president know right from wrong? I don't think so.”

— House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Democrats have been seeking to have former national security adviser John Bolton, and possibly others, testify at the trial. Bolton, who was fired in September, is reportedly willing to provide testimony that could bolster the Democrats’ arguments that Trump abused his power by seeking a quid-pro-quo deal with Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Pelosi’s comments about Trump’s legal team were equally combative.

"I don't know how they can retain their lawyer status, in the comments that they're making," Pelosi told reporters, according to The Hill. "I don't think they made the case. I think they disgraced themselves terribly in terms of their violation of what our Constitution is about and what a president's behavior should be."

"I don't know how they can retain their lawyer status, in the comments that they're making. I don't think they made the case. I think they disgraced themselves terribly in terms of their violation of what our Constitution is about and what a president's behavior should be."

— House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Pelosi also accused other Trump allies of attempting “to dismantle the Constitution” in order to shield the president from conviction and removal from office over two articles of impeachment that the Democrat-controlled House approved in December.

“Some of them are even lawyers,” Pelosi said. “Imagine that you would say — ever, of any president, no matter who he or she is or whatever party -- if the president thinks that his or her presidency ... is good for the country, then any action is justified — including encouraging a foreign government to have an impact on our elections."