On the impeachment vote, one NC senator represented us well
Sen. Richard Burr’s vote on Saturday to convict former President Donald Trump at his second impeachment trial came as a surprise. The Republican senator had previously voted against even holding a trial since Trump is gone from office.
But after hearing the evidence presented by House managers this week, Burr did something rare among Republican senators who have spent four years ignoring or forgiving Trump’s outrageous conduct. He voted his conscience.
Burr concluded that Trump’s refusal to accept the outcome of a fair election and his urging of his supporters to protest the certification of the results by Congress incited the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“I do not make this decision lightly, but I believe it is necessary,” Burr said in a statement. “By what he did and by what he did not do, President Trump violated his oath of office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
North Carolina should be proud that one of its senators joined six other Republicans in siding with the truth and standing up for the Constitution. Most Republican senators voted to acquit Trump, leaving the outcome short of the two-thirds threshold needed for conviction. Still, the 57 senators who voted to convict – 48 Democrats, two independents and seven Republicans – was the most bipartisan verdict in an impeachment trial ever.
North Carolina’s junior senator, Thom Tillis, predictably, came up small by voting to acquit. Just elected to a second term in 2020, Tillis won’t face voters for six years. He had a comfortable cushion against fallout from voting to convict a former president of his own party. Still, he took the politically safe course.
Tillis, like most of his fellow Republicans, dodged the issue of Trump’s clear culpability by saying impeachment does not apply to those who have left office. Burr correctly saw that after the Senate voted to proceed with a trial, the Republicans’ objection was moot.
Burr said, “The Senate is an institution based on precedent, and given that the majority in the Senate voted to proceed with this trial, the question of constitutionality is now established precedent.
“As an impartial juror, my role is now to determine whether House managers have sufficiently made the case for the article of impeachment against President Trump. I have listened to the arguments presented by both sides and considered the facts. The facts are clear.”
Tillis, after voting to not hold a trial, thought the trial was rushed and House Democrats had not marshaled enough evidence to prove Trump’s guilt. How much evidence did he need? Trump indicted himself as he persisted in making baseless claims of a rigged election that triggered a riot witnessed by the senators firsthand.
Republican senators who rejected the judgment of the majority of their fellow senators and acquitted Trump have taken a shameful role in history and, like the accused president himself, have undermined democracy.
In his speech after the acquittal, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer singled-out the Republican senators who voted to acquit. “I salute those Republican patriots who did the right thing. It wasn’t easy. We know that. Let their votes be a message to the American people. Because, my fellow Americans, if this nation is going to long endure, we, as a people, cannot sanction the former president’s conduct.”
Burr, who has said he will not seek election to a fourth Senate term in 2022, will not have to face voters again. But several other retiring Republican senators still did not vote as the facts compelled. They voted to acquit and with that have invited further attacks on democracy by Trump and perhaps future presidents.
At a historic moment, Burr served North Carolina, the nation and the Constitution by having the courage to vote his conscience, the highest and finest form of representation.
