Chuck Schumer’s hypocrisy is on full display in a video surfacing from twenty years ago, in which the Senate Minority Leader said he would “explore every possible way to avoid a trial” for former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment.
Schumer recently demanded an in-depth trial for President Trump’s impeachment from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“Senate Democrats believe strongly, and I trust Senate Republicans agree, that this trial must be one that is far, that considers all of the relevant facts,” he said.
He also alleged that the Constitution demands such a trial.
In 1999, like many of his colleagues, Schumer sang a very different tune.
“I hope a trial doesn’t go forward,” the New York Democrat told reporters. “And I am starting from this moment on to explore every possible way to avoid a trial.”
RELATED: Mitch McConnell Shreds Schumer For Making Ridiculous Impeachment Demands
FLASHBACK:
SCHUMER: “Well, I hope a trial doesn’t go forward. And I am starting from this moment on to explore every possible way to avoid a trial.”
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) December 18, 2019
Schumer Slams Extremists
Not only did Schumer actively pursue a means to avoid a Senate trial, but he called out extremists in the opposition party for pushing too hard and possibly “get(ting) burnt.”
“The only real way to stop it [trial], I think, is either if the moderate Republicans in the senate tell him no right from the start, or secondly, if the public … I think that, you know, when one of the extremes reaches too far, they get burnt.”
Fast forward to today where McConnell is telling Chuck ‘no’ from the start.
“The Senate is meant to act as judge and jury, to hear a trial, not to re-run the entire fact-finding investigation because angry partisans rushed sloppily through it,” McConnell told Schumer from the House floor.
It’s the Democrats who are going to ‘get burnt.’
RELATED: Video Surfaces of Pelosi Accusing Republicans of Impeaching Clinton Out of Hatred
December 18, 1998 – @SpeakerPelosi on debate of Clinton impeachment: “We are here today because the Republicans in the House are paralyzed with hatred of President Clinton.” pic.twitter.com/f3IQuIST2P
— Rusty Weiss ?? (@rustyweiss74) September 25, 2019
Schumer: Must Vote to Dismiss
Chuck Schumer – the 1999 version -proceeded to explain that the Senate should vote to dismiss prior to any trial.
“Certainly, any senator – according to the rules – could move to dismiss, which is done,” he said. “You know, I mean, there is some talk – well, that would be unconstitutional.”
“Malarkey,” Schumer scoffed. “Every day, in criminal and civil courts throughout America motions to dismiss are made. And if a majority vote for that motion to dismiss, the procedure could be truncated.”
Now he insists the Constitution demands a trial. Let’s hope Mitch and the Republicans follow Schumer’s advice and “truncate” the Trump impeachment trial.
This video is yet another example of how differently Democrats acted in 1998, when Clinton was being impeached for provable crimes.
?NADLER IN 1998?
AT AN ANTI-IMPEACHMENT RALLY:
“An impeachment of a President is an undoing of a National Election” pic.twitter.com/zMOuxVaqqi
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) September 25, 2019
“We are here today because the Republicans in the House are paralyzed with hatred of President Clinton, and until the Republicans free themselves of that hatred our country will suffer,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had an aneurysm after being accused of hatred for Trump, said at the time.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, a driving force behind the push to impeach President Trump, claimed in 1998 that impeachment is essentially an “undoing of a national election” designed to tell American voters that their choice for President “must be set aside.”
In January of 1999, Senator Schumer voted to dismiss the Clinton impeachment trial. If he had an ounce of integrity, he’d do the same thing today.
