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House speaker responds to Senate impeachment rules
House Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez (Ind-Saipan)), issued the following in response to the Senate Impeachment Rules released by Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider (R-Tinian) on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022:
“I have read the impeachment rules and I am troubled by the lengths to which the Senate president and the Joint Impeachment Committee have gone to hamper the House of Representatives’ ability to conduct a fair trial. The people of our Commonwealth have the right to have us conduct a fair trial.
“The Senate rules present violations of the Open Government Act. The impeachment rules were adopted Friday morning without allowing oral comments on the proposed rules; rules that were withheld from the public and not made available to all members of the Senate until the close of business.
Villagomez
“The Senate rules go so far as to limit the House of Representatives by not giving us equal footing. It does not seem reasonable that the Senate president can handpick who will lead our impeachment prosecution and limit the number of impeachment managers to present our case. These are but two of the Senate’s unreasonable rules the House cannot accept, but there are more.
“We also have fairness issues when we compare the standard of proof in the Senate impeachment rules by which the House must prove its case against the governor by making the applicable standard of proof higher than the standard set for former governor Benigno Fitial, former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, and former President Donald J. Trump.
“It’s in the best interest to have a fair trial and it’s inexplicable that the Senate would hamper our ability to perform our constitutional duties in this manner.” (PR)
