Former President Bill Clinton's 1999 impeachment is being used by senators from both sides in the proceedings against President Donald Trump, including honing on statements some of the people had made in the Clinton matter against them now when it comes to Trump.
In all, 15 senators, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., were in the Senate back when Clinton was being impeached, reports The Hill, and that is giving plenty of ammunition that can be used this time around.
Republicans have centered their focus on Schumer, saying his current position on calling witnesses for a Senate trial for Trump conflicts with his position against witnesses in Clinton's Senate proceedings.
“My friend, the Democratic leader, continues to demand a new and different set of rules for President Trump," McConnell has said. He wants us to break from that unanimous bipartisan precedent and force an all-or-nothing approach."
In 1999, Schumer voted in a 100-0 resolution on ground rules in the Clinton trial and later voted in favor of an attempt to dismiss the articles and against a resolution to allow closed-door depositions.
Schumer, who wants to call four witnesses, says in 1999, then-witnesses who gave closed-door depositions already appeared first before a grand jury, while the witnesses he wants, including former national security adviser John Bolton and acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, did not testify before the House in the Trump inquiry.
He also argues that McConnell's arguments are "irrelevant and incomplete comparisons" to Clinton's trial, and noted that McConnell, who does not favor calling witnesses now, voted to subpoena three witnesses against Clinton.
Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. was a House impeachment manager in 1999 but has come under fire from Republicans for the Rule of Law, a GOP outside group, because he supported witnesses in the earlier proceeding but not now.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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