Attorney John Dean, the former White House Counsel for Richard Nixon who provided key testimony against Nixon as a witness in the 1973 Nixon impeachment hearings, slammed Republican senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley as “co-conspirators” in the violent takeover of the U.S. Capitol earlier this month, and said they should not be part of the Senate impeachment trial against Donald Trump for inciting the failed insurrection.
“Americans cannot get a fair Senate Impeachment trial of Trump’s insurrection with insurrectionists on the jury,” Dea tweeted on Saturday. “Senators Hawley, Cruz, Graham, Johnson and others who pushed the big lie are co-conspirators and should not sit in judgment of Trump, rather they MUST BE DISQUALIFIED!”
Dean’s remarks came a day after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that opening arguments in the Senate impeachment trial for Donald Trump over the deadly Capitol breach will begin the week of Feb. 8.
“We all want to put this awful chapter in our nation’s history behind us. But healing and unity will only come if there is truth and accountability. And that is what this trial will provide,” said Senator Schumer.
It also comes as a group of seven Democrats filed an ethics complaint on Thursday requesting an investigation into the two senators’ roles in inciting the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
“The names of Cruz and Hawley should go down in history next to people like Benedict Arnold,” Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego said. “They are just traitors to the country and traitors to the Constitution.”
Friday, Hawley attempted to defend his role saying “I will never apologize for giving voice to the millions of Missourians and Americans who have concerns about the integrity of our elections. That’s my job, and I will keep doing it.”
But few were buying Hawley’s assertion:
Americans cannot get a fair Senate Impeachment trial of Trump’s insurrection with insurrectionists on the jury. Senators Hawley, Cruz, Graham, Johnson and others who pushed the big lie are co-conspirators and should not sit in judgment of Trump, rather they MUST BE DISQUALIFIED!
— John W. Dean (@JohnWDean) January 23, 2021
Hawley is Senator of Missouri. His constituents are ALL the people of Missouri – which is the same state that JUST elected sister @CoriBush, the first Black woman to ever represent MO in Congress.
So Hawley really needs to clarify who he considers a constituent & who he doesn’t.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 23, 2021
So many of the GOP Senators (e.g. Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, etc.) were complicit in Trump's Big Lie and the instigation and provocation of insurrection, we need to DEMAND their recusal from the Impeachment Trial.
If they won't, we need to charge as conspirators.
— Land Snark (@snark_land) January 23, 2021
Are the Senators who voted to overturn the election results and particularly Hawley and Cruz who helped incite insurrection going to be permitted to vote in the trial to convict Trump?
— Steven Beschloss (@StevenBeschloss) January 23, 2021
