After Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) was indicted for acting as a foreign agent of Egypt while he was the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) called for his expulsion.
31 Democrats, including Fetterman, called for his resignation after the first indictment. Now, after a second indictment, Fetterman is calling for his immediate expulsion.
We cannot have an alleged foreign agent in the United States Senate.
I think it’s important to note that, at this stage, these are merely allegations. Menendez has not had his day in court, he has not had a formal opportunity to reply to the allegations. He should certainly face some sort of suspension, but taking away his senate seat flies in the face of “innocent until proven guilty” and sets a dangerous precedent.
Eh, it’s a 2/3rds majority to expel a senator, the evidence in the case is damning, and he skated by on corruption charges before through a hung jury. I don’t think we need to worry about slippery slopes because we don’t wait years for a trial to resolve.
And being expelled from the Senate isn’t a criminal matter, it’s a political one. Senators can be expelled even if they’re not guilty of a crime.
. I agree, and I disagree. What if the evidence against menendez is so compelling that there’s no doubt of his guilt I actually don’t know. If some Republican brings up charges against the democrat, on stupid evidence, and everybody could see it stupid evidence, then of course that Democrat should not be expelled.
While they certainly could expell the Senator based on evidence against him, that evidence isn’t being presented yet. At the moment, we just have indictments, and given the nature of the evidence (intelligence sources) it probably won’t be revealed until it’s in court - if it’s revealed at all. As such, the Senate can only really go by the outcome of the court case, not the evidence directly. They couldn’t expell a Senator without telling the public why.
The issue with the Republicans doing this kind of thing is that their base will easily lap up any fictional reason they give as “evidence”. So while many people will see it as stupid, a significant and very vocal group might not.
31 Democrats, including Fetterman, called for his resignation after the first indictment. Now, after a second indictment, Fetterman is calling for his immediate expulsion.
I think it’s important to note that, at this stage, these are merely allegations. Menendez has not had his day in court, he has not had a formal opportunity to reply to the allegations. He should certainly face some sort of suspension, but taking away his senate seat flies in the face of “innocent until proven guilty” and sets a dangerous precedent.
Eh, it’s a 2/3rds majority to expel a senator, the evidence in the case is damning, and he skated by on corruption charges before through a hung jury. I don’t think we need to worry about slippery slopes because we don’t wait years for a trial to resolve.
And being expelled from the Senate isn’t a criminal matter, it’s a political one. Senators can be expelled even if they’re not guilty of a crime.
. I agree, and I disagree. What if the evidence against menendez is so compelling that there’s no doubt of his guilt I actually don’t know. If some Republican brings up charges against the democrat, on stupid evidence, and everybody could see it stupid evidence, then of course that Democrat should not be expelled.
While they certainly could expell the Senator based on evidence against him, that evidence isn’t being presented yet. At the moment, we just have indictments, and given the nature of the evidence (intelligence sources) it probably won’t be revealed until it’s in court - if it’s revealed at all. As such, the Senate can only really go by the outcome of the court case, not the evidence directly. They couldn’t expell a Senator without telling the public why.
The issue with the Republicans doing this kind of thing is that their base will easily lap up any fictional reason they give as “evidence”. So while many people will see it as stupid, a significant and very vocal group might not.