Senator Cornyn

VIDEO: Cornyn on Senate Vote to Acquit President Trump

February 5, 2020

The impeachment of a president of the United States is simply the gravest undertaking we can pursue in this country. It is the nuclear option in our Constitution.

I’ve done my best to listen intently to both sides as they presented their cases during the trial, and I’m confident in saying that President Trump should be acquitted and not removed from office.

They failed to bring forward compelling and unassailable evidence of any crime, and thus failed to meet their burden of proof.

Our country is deeply divided and damaged by this partisan impeachment process. It's time for us to bring it to a close and to let the wounds from this unnecessary and misguided episode heal.

WASHINGTON – This morning on the Senate floor, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) discussed the Senate’s vote to acquit President Trump. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn’s floor remarks are below, and downloadable audio and video can be found here.

“The impeachment of a president of the United States is simply the gravest undertaking we can pursue in this country. It is the nuclear option in our Constitution. It’s a choice of last resort, when a president has committed a crime so serious that Congress must act rather than leave the choice to the voters in the election.”

“The framers of the Constitution granted this awesome power to the United States Congress and placed their confidence in the Senate to use it only when absolutely necessary, when there is no other choice.”

“I’ve done my best to listen intently to both sides as they presented their cases during the trial, and I’m confident in saying that President Trump should be acquitted and not removed from office.”

“They failed to bring forward compelling and unassailable evidence of any crime, and thus failed to meet their burden of proof.”

“They channeled personal, policy, and political grievances and attempted to use the most solemn responsibility of Congress to bring down a political rival in a partisan process.”

“What should be a solemn constitutional undertaking became partisan guerrilla warfare to take down President Trump and make Senator Schumer the next Majority Leader of the United States Senate. All of this was done on the eve of an election and just days shy of the first primary in Iowa.”

“This partisan impeachment process could not only remove the President from office, it would also potentially prevent his name from appearing on the ballot in November.”

“Our Democratic colleagues don’t trust the American people, so they’ve taken matters into their own hands.”

“This politically-motivated impeachment sets a dangerous precedent.”

“If successful, this would give a green light to future Congresses to weaponize impeachment to defeat a political opponent for any action.”

“We should all believe that the results of the next election should be decided by the American people, not by Congress. The decision to remove a president from office requires undeniable evidence of a high crime.”

“But despite our colleagues’ best attempts, the facts they presented simply don’t add up to that standard. House managers failed to meet their heavy burden of proof that President Trump beyond a reasonable doubt committed a crime, let alone a high crime.”

“Our country is deeply divided and damaged by this partisan impeachment process. It’s time for us to bring it to a close and to let the wounds from this unnecessary and misguided episode heal.”
 

Impeachment Trial Facts:

  • During the course of the Senate’s impeachment trial, Senators heard video testimony from 13 different witnesses in 192 clips.
  • Senators also had access to the testimonies of four more individuals from the House’s impeachment proceedings, bringing the total to 17 witnesses.
  • Senators received 28,578 pages of documents and evidence.
  • Senators were able to submit questions to the House managers and the White House’s legal team, and these questions were read and answered for 16 hours.