(01-13-2021, 06:59 PM)americus 2.0 Wrote: This from an article about the possibility Trump could argue his case once no longer in office. 

With the strong possibility that a Senate trial may not happen until after President-elect Joe Biden takes office, host Sandra Smith asked Turley on Wednesday if he thinks Chief Justice John Roberts would preside over a figure who has left office.


Turley acknowledged that he did not know the answer to that question, saying, "We are well into the land of the unknown."

"It is going to get even more bizarre once the president leaves office," he continued. "You will be trying to remove a president who has already left. It’s like grounding a plane that’s landed and can’t take off again."

Turley then pointed out that "the president, as a former president can argue in court that he is no longer subject to impeachment."

"The impeachment provision refers to the purpose as the removal of the president," he noted. "The added penalty of barring him from future office is something that occurs after conviction and removal."

The two bolded parts are particularly interesting. If he's out of office, how can they remove him; and if the added penalty of barring him from future office occurs after conviction and removal....what's the point of this? He's already gone. You can't remove someone who is not there. Someone who is better at understanding this stuff than I am, feel free to explain it in simple terms.