Sen. Rand Paul says that a Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump that doesn’t include Chief Justice John Roberts would be an illegitimate process.
“If Justice Roberts won’t preside over this sham ‘impeachment’ then why would it ever be considered legitimate?” the Kentucky Republican tweeted Friday. “Hint: It won’t be.”
Later in the day, Paul joined Fox News’s Sean Hannity and elaborated on his impeachment stance, calling it an “illegitimate procedure” if Roberts isn’t there.
“It isn’t a real impeachment. It’s going to be a fake, partisan impeachment,” Paul said about a process without Roberts.
“The story is,” Paul continued, “that the chief justice is not going to be asked, but the reason he’s not going to be asked is he’s privately said he’s not supposed to come unless it’s an impeachment of the president.”
“So, this is an illegitimate procedure,” he said. “And even the chief justice of the Supreme Court, who's not a rabid Trump person, who's actually, if anything, sort of in the middle, he is now saying this is illegitimate because I’m not getting in the middle of this and I’m not coming over for this.”
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The whole thing would be illegitimate because Trump is no longer president. You can't impeach a citizen. Further More, you can't prevent him from running for office again. That is why they fear him so much.
Not only can they not impeach a private citizen, but they cannot continue to demand Trump's tax returns.