Sen. Mike Lee says Senate does not have impeachment jurisdiction over former officials

WASHINGTON – Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) issued a statement Tuesday after voting not to table a point of order, noting it is unconstitutional for the Senate to try a former president.

In senator Lee’s statement he said:

“If the Senate were to adopt a broad interpretation of the impeachment power—one allowing federal officials to be convicted on impeachment charges even after leaving office—the result would not only be problematic, but also contrary to the text, structure, and historical understanding of the Constitution.”

President Donald Trump is the first president to be impeached twice.

Many lawmakers have pushed for the impeachment of the former president Trump before he left office in January.

Utah lawmakers voted against the impeachment of former president Trump earlier this year.

Republican Representatives Blake Moore, Chris Stewart, John Curtis, and Burgess Owens all voted “no” on the Article of Impeachment.

ABC4’s Glen Mills spoke with Rep. Chris Stewart recently about his thoughts on moving forward with impeaching now former President Donald Trump.

“The reality is that we are talking about a president who at the time of impeachment, had less than a week in office and I think accountability will be history will evaluate him, “Stewart said. “There is certainly the other methods where the evaluating will happen the last month and we will be able to know and talk about that.”

Stewart added that he voted not to impeach Donald Trump because there were no hearings, no witnesses, and no evidence presented.

ABC4 also spoke with Sen. Mitt Romney, giving his first interview since the riots at the U.S. Capitol.

Sen. Mitt Romney, who was one of the more vocal Republicans calling for the impeachment of Trump.

“Like leader McConnell and so many others, I believe that some of the president’s actions have been most unfortunate,” Romney tells ABC4.