WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton is pledging to do "impartial justice" as he weighs an impeachment he has already branded a "sham."
The two positions aren't inconsistent, he said Friday.
"When it sits as a court of impeachment, the Senate is not a jury, nor are we, individually, jurors. We are senators," Cotton said.
Impeachment is a political proceeding, not a criminal trial, the Republican from Dardanelle said.
"That's what the founders intended," he said. "They very clearly understood that a court of impeachment is quite different from a courtroom because both sides know the defendant and they have pre-existing opinions of the defendant, both Democrats and Republicans alike."
Thursday, as senators prepared for the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, they swore an oath to "do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws."
It's a promise binding presidential friends and foes alike.
"Impartial justice, to me, means applying faithfully the constitutional standards of treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors, not acting on a purely partisan basis, not acting for personal or partisan gain," the senator said.
There was little levity in the Senate chambers Thursday as its members awaited the reading of the articles of impeachment.
That's how it should be, Cotton suggested.
"Any time you take an oath before God and under the Constitution, it is a serious and somber moment," he said. "What was going through my mind is my duty as a senator, as the founders envisioned it, to ensure that we uphold those constitutional standards and we don't do long-term and lasting damage to our constitutional fabric."
Impeachment has been driven by personal animus toward the president, Cotton said.
The Senate's job is to provide the "cool and deliberate sense of our political community" rather than "inflamed partisan passions," he added.
Senators also must "give the president the due process he has not received in the past," Cotton said.
Once both sides have made their case, the Senate should reject both articles of impeachment, he said.
An acquittal will show "future House majorities of both parties for generations to come that this was an ill-considered decision and it ought not be emulated in the future."
The trial, which is scheduled to resume Tuesday, will last "at least two weeks," Cotton said.
Beyond that, he declined to estimate how long it will go.
He also is withholding judgment on the need for witnesses.
"Because it's not just in the Senate's hands, it's also in the hands of the president's defense team and the House lawyers, I think it's premature to say," he said.
The president's wishes will be given due consideration, according to Cotton.
If Trump's attorneys "really want to call more witnesses, I think that'll look very differently to a lot of us than if they say, 'We believe that the House has presented no case that meets the constitutional standard for impeachment and we want to move to a final vote,'" he said.
Cotton expressed skepticism about a Government Accountability Office report released Thursday. It portrayed as illegal the decision to temporarily withhold congressionally approved funding for Ukraine.
"I haven't had a chance to review the report, but I'm doubtful of its conclusions and until I read it more carefully, it won't change my perspective," he said.
Presidents have the prerogative, in some instances, to delay the release of foreign aid, he said. In addition, the funds for Ukraine were released before the congressional deadline for doing so, he added.
Metro on 01/18/2020