On Wednesday night, House Democrats achieved their long-sought dream of placing an asterisk next to President Trump’s name in history books. Former Whitewater Independent Counsel Ken Starr told the hosts of “Fox & Friends” on Saturday that the impeachment itself will come with an asterisk.
Starr argued that “It’s an impeachment with a footnote or with an asterisk.* By the way, it never went over to the Senate, which I think means that it’s a bit of a phony impeachment. She appears to be intruding into the power of the Senate which is ironic in the extreme, isn’t it? So, I think there is an abuse of House power in the way that this process unfolded in the House and riding rough-shod over minority rights and, ultimately, the rights of the president…Now she’s trying to essentially tell the Senate how to do its business…and it’s just wrong constitutionally.”
Host Ed Henry asked Starr if Pelosi’s decision to hold onto the articles of impeachment until Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell offers better terms for a Senate trial is a quid pro quo.
Starr smiled broadly and replied, “Exactly, I said hey it’s attempted extortion. It certainly is asking for a quid pro quo…great point.”
It’s ironic that the Democrats’ latest attempt to impeach the President was based upon accusing him of perpetrating a quid pro quo and they are now publicly demanding a quid pro quo. As pundits constantly say, the Democrats always accuse Republicans of things that they themselves do.
Henry questioned Starr about possible paths forward for McConnell. He asked if McConnell should appoint managers and move ahead with a Senate trial without having received the impeachment articles. Starr said, “McConnell is doing it in exactly the right way. I gather he’s going to say, ‘We’re going to go forward with the business in the Senate and not play games.'”
Starr was also asked if he agreed with Harvard Law professor and impeachment inquiry witness Noah Feldman’s opinion that in order for this impeachment to be valid, the House must send the articles over to the Senate. Starr responded, “an impeachment is an impeachment.” George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, who also testified at the impeachment inquiry hearing, agrees. Turley wrote on Friday, “Trump stands impeached.”
______________________
When it became apparent to Democrats that candidate Donald Trump posed a threat to a Hillary Clinton victory, high-ranking, pro-Hillary, anti-Trump Obama administration officials initiated a disinformation campaign in which they sought to discredit him. Driven by irrational hatred, they promoted a false narrative that he was colluding with Russian leaders to win the election.
Following Clinton’s stunning defeat, their efforts to entrap the newly elected President grew bolder. Ultimately, the duplicitous Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, took the drastic measure of appointing a Special Counsel to investigate the allegations against the President. A 22-month investigation failed to find evidence to support any of the charges.
Afraid Trump might win reelection and desperate to find a reason to impeach him before that happened, Democrats concocted another fraudulent conspiracy, that he had engaged in a quid pro quo with a foreign leader. Because Democrats held the House majority, the vote to impeach the President passed. Not a single Republican voted for impeachment.
Here’s how I hope this note ends:
Following President Trump’s acquittal by the Senate, he won re-election in a landslide that November. Several high-ranking Obama administration officials were indicted and convicted for their roles in the scandal.