Twenty-one Republican state attorneys general sent a letter to the Senate rebuking the impeachment of President Trump, claiming it would set a dangerous precedent moving forward.
The letter, which was sent on Wednesday morning, called for the Senate to dismiss the charges and end the trial, according to Fox News.
“This impeachment proceeding threatens all future elections and establishes a dangerous historical precedent,” it read. “That new precedent will erode the separation of powers shared by the executive and legislative branches by subjugating future Presidents to the whims of the majority opposition party in the House of Representatives.”
The attorneys general added, “Thus, our duty to current and future generations commands us to urge the Senate to not only reject the two articles of impeachment … as lacking in any plausible or reasonable evidentiary basis, but also as being fundamentally flawed as a matter of constitutional law.”
They went on to argue that the abuse of power charge against the president “is based upon a constitutionally-flawed theory” that is “infinitely expansive and subjective” because it is contingent upon knowing the motivation of the president. The attorneys general also claim that the second charge, obstruction of Congress, is “equally flawed” because it would ultimately render executive privilege “meaningless.”
The letter came a day after the Senate began the president’s impeachment trial. The Senate passed rules to govern the trial, but that resolution did not address the potential for new witnesses or evidence.
It was signed by attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia. Republican state attorneys general from Arizona, Idaho, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and Wyoming did not sign onto the letter, but Arizona’s attorney general sent a separate one.
CORRECTION: In previous version of this story, the Washington Examiner reported that South Carolina and Utah’s attorneys general did not sign onto the letter. The story has been updated to reflect that they did.
