In his Feb. 16 letter, Kenneth E. Harris states the president was denied his due process during the impeachment hearings. It is an assertion that was widely circulated by people like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. The president was afforded an abundance of due process, he just chose not to exercise it.
When the House was deposing the 17 witnesses before their public testimony, every Republican member of Intelligence Committee had the right to be present and ask questions. During their public testimony, all 17 witnesses were questioned by Republican members of the Intelligence Committee and they advocated for the president. The president had the right to call his own witnesses and to testify under oath himself. It is telling, all of the witnesses who should have been able to exonerate the president with their sworn testimony, men such as John Bolton, Mick Mulvaney, and Rudy Giuliani, were given orders by the president not to testify.
The Senate trial was more of the same.
When the framers of the Constitution decided to use the Senate as jurors in impeachment trials, they believed that the Senate would be less partisan than the House. Originally, members of the Senate were not elected by the people’s vote, they were appointed to serve by the state legislatures. Perhaps a non-elected Senate could have put aside partisanship and served as an impartial jury as our founders once hoped. Since the ratification of the 12th Amendment, Senators are elected directly by the people. Partisanship rules despite our founders intent.
James Carr, Celina
