Senator, I’m a constituent. I live in northeast Ohio. I’m a retired Marine with service in two wars. I’m also a former employee of the U.S. House of Representatives, so I know how legislation and Congress works. I’ve been a Republican for 42 years. I’m a moderate. I’m the kind of voter you want (or maybe, given I’m in Trump Country, not). But no more. I read your self-justification in the NYT today and I am entirely ashamed of you. As I listened to the roll call vote on witnesses in the impeachment trial and I heard your negative response, the die was finally cast for me. You don’t think the two articles of impeachment reach the threshold for both impeachment and removal? Were you at a different “trial” than the one I watched?I thought you were a principled man who has taken unpopular, but principled positions before and would not disappoint in this, probably the most important vote of your political career. You had the opportunity to help free us from a demagogue who has sown division, lied beyond count, and soiled the Office of the President. When today you cast your vote to acquit, that sound you might hear is me and my fellow moderate Republican Ohioans walking away and looking for an alternative to you and the GOP. Because it no longer represents the values and beliefs I hold dear. It’s become a personality cult.
6951
@Lightning14
Well said. Any Republican who considers themselves to be a decent person must now abandon the Party, if they haven't already done so.
562
@Lightning14 Thank you for your excellent comment. The sad state of affairs, unfortunately, is that Mr. Portman, his fellow Republicans and their supporters will discredit someone like you who served his country in the most honorable way possible unless you are in lockstep with this president. But you are not alone. So many good people are stepping away with you.
490
@Lightning14 Best guess, is moderates will start to flock to Trump. As now that he has been cleared, people will focus on the economy which is a strong suit for the President, along with the measures in fighting optiod . The truth is the Senator is correct there is no crime. We need to defeat Trump at the ballot box, but unfortunately this rushed and ill conceived impeachment will ultimately help Trump, his approval is near 50% now. Democrats blundered here. Portman is making the smart judgement here unfortunately.
23
I'm a constituent of Senator Portman, and I couldn't be more disappointed in this. Disappointed, but not surprised. He's seeking a way to make himself feel better and look better in a situation where he knows he's behaving without integrity.
Rushing a case through the House, a "half-baked case"? Seriously sir? After all the obstruction to witnesses and testifying that came from Trump and Senate Republicans, which would make a "half-baked case" inevitable, through no fault of the House?
Working together on consensus issues? After all the bills the Democratic-led House has passed, including for prescription drugs, but which Mitch McConnell refuses to bring up?
As far as I'm concerned, here's all you need to know about Rob Portman these days. He was a staunch opponent of gay civil unions and marriage, until his son came out. Then he was willing to buck the Republican party line, and only then. I.e., when it touched him personally.
Deep down inside, this senator knows he's betrayed the values of decency and honesty, along with his oath.
2096
I actually had some respect for Portman prior to reading his piece. He’s done an excellent job of showing us his lack of character and moral courage through this explanation and its many enlightening comments and corrections. I’m guessing this wasn’t his intent. Too bad we have to wait another 4 years to see him lose this awesome duty to legislate. He certainly doesn’t deserve to have it. Shame on him.
219
@Joseph,
I agree. After I did my post above, I had another thought about his motivations for this piece. What better way to shore up his bona fides with Limbaugh and Hannity, and Trump, too, than to parrot the party line in a prestige media outlet? He may be more sincere in the bipartisan legislation comments - but talk is cheap. Is he willing to publicly call out McConnell, Trump, and right-wing media for their hyper-partisan stances? His track record would predict "no".
154
@original - I live about 5 miles from Portman's home in Cincinnati and could not agree with you more. Used to respect the man, not anymore.
168
Senator Portman's position is consistent with that of most Americans. Yes, Trump withheld aid to try to get an investigation of the Bidens - and additional witnesses won't change that conclusion. But on the question of whether Trump should be removed from office, this offense doesn't rise to that level. The real measure of this is how Senators not running for re-election - and therefore not constrained by politics - vote on this issue.
But I wouldn't say Trump is "acquitted." I would only say the Senate voted not to remove him from office.
261
@J. Waddell
Trump and many of Portman's Republican colleagues maintain that Trump behaved "perfectly." If Portman was sincere in wanting the country to conclude that Trump's behavior was wrong, he would have welcomed documents and witnesses to bring more of the country towards this position. But no, he was only interested in making his prostration before Trump as easy as possible.
375
@J. Waddell
Do us all a favor, and stop pretending you speak for most Americans. Most Americans - meaning every person I know minus maybe 1, who is wobbling - cannot stand Donald Trump and want him removed from office. Yes, Trump did everything he has been accused of doing, and likely a lot more - but we don't know the extent of it because of Republican obstruction and disinterest in evidence.
I wouldn't say Trump is "acquitted." I would say you and your ilk let him off the hook, ignoring your duty as constituents and citizens, for no good Constitutional reason.
672
@J. Waddell : Statistically, most Americans do not want Trump as president. That was true in 2016, that is true now. And, by recent polls, the majority would like to see him removed from office.
474
Bravo. A thoughtful response to a partisan "kangaroo court."
26
@nikolai burlakoff If a kangeroo court, the House managers went from fact to fact, while the Republican Senate and White House went from blame to blame and excuse to excuse.
74
@nikolai burlakoff Please remember that the Senate is the court, not the House. Yes, the Senate has been a "kangaroo court", refusing to allow witnesses or evidence. The House was hobbled by being unable to get witnesses and the Senate took no action.
What thoughtfulness was there? Mr. Portman directly contradicted himself by saying that impeachment was for "....and bribery" and then voting to acquit?
74
@nikolai burlakoff The only thing kangaroo is the President's blanket refusal to let anyone in his admin testify before the House. This is obstruction, pure and simple.
68
Portman is one of those zombies that stands behind McConnell every time he comes out on tv to burp his support for Moscow's policy for America. A true cultist. Vote him out.
107
Is the photo accompanying this nonsense blacked-out so that you might avoid the humiliation of showing your face in public and the shame you will now bear for the rest of your life?
80
"Impeachment" never "ends", Senator Portman.
It is a simple historical fact.
I haven't a doubt, sir, that you have spent the last quarter century reminding the world that Bill Clinton was impeached.
And, acquitted.
Ditto for Trump*.
( The "*" is a notation after a president's name that denotes that he has been "Impeached".)
Now, there is a 300-plus pile of passed House-bills on Mitch's desk.
I suggest you pass every one of them.
Yes, that will take time.... won't it?
And "time" is the one thing that is running out on both this R- Senate and Trump*.
You, sir, have less than 9 months to wipe out the fact that you are a cult and betrayers of the American Ideal.
Nine months.
You'd better get moving.
I suspect that it is going to take decades to convince this nation that culty-crooked and wanting all the money in the Universe isn't the R-way.
But, let's face it: That "R" no longer stands for "REPUBLICAN".
It stands for "RIGGED".
Hustle, hustle, Portman.
Time waits for no man.
79
Thanks, Senator, for enabling a traitor. And, sorry about your spine.
136
I had to stop reading this when I got to, “the House engaged in a rushed process that lacked fundamental fairness. The constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley calls it “the shortest proceeding, with the thinnest evidentiary record, and the narrowest grounds ever used to impeach a president.” It was also the only purely partisan impeachment in history.”
That nonpartisan career officials risked there careers and lives to expose the shameful horrors that are Trump’s presidency, that you would dismiss and demean their bravery to reveal the truth to congress and the nation, by voting based on your baseless sham claims, lacks any credulity. This is how both my parents war efforts against tyranny (WWII) are rendered meaningless. Do you have any idea what Fascism is? I think not.
88
Mr. Portman, here’s the simple reason you’re not voting to impeach: you flushed your moral compass down the toilet.
115
Your memory is failing you. Do you even remember what you said about the Clinton impeachment? Your hypocrisy and that of your party has flooded this country and the stench and toxicity of it knows no bounds. You have ZERO credibility with me, and millions of others who are sick to DEATH of the blatant, open, in-our-faces corruption by your GOP colleagues.
80
Improper?
This is the word you would use for a bribe for personal gain using
tax payer money in the middle of a fighting war against an
American adversary?
Your rationale for your vote will do nothing to clean your hands
of this.....ever.
If you are so certain of your own impeachable rectitude,
then there is no need for explanations in the pages of
the New York Times.
59
Why do you feel the need to explain yourself?
49
You know dude, this would all be just fine if you Trump stooges would have allowed witnesses to testify. Then if you still thought he was innocent, so be it. But that’s not what happened and you and all the Senate Republicans are all complicit criminals.
92
Rob Portman is a man who always sounds reasonable, but also just happens to always vote with Mitch McConnell to do nothing. Mr. Portman reminds me of a book from the 1950s about the results of advertising spin and lies called "The Marching Morons." Sounds like a good name for the Republican Senators, including Mr. Portman. Nice picture, by the way: it implies that there was a lot of thought in the written part.
Mr. Portman turns to what the Senate can fix, but the Republican-McConnell Senate has buried 3 years of fixes.
38
Portman is a coward. Which puts him in the same class as the rest of the Senate Republicans. And that definitely includes Rmoney and Susie "Welcome to the Private Sector" Collins.
41
Face it Rob, you're scared, scared of a bully.
67
You, sir, are acting in a cowardly manner. You have joined the personality cult of Trumpism. You voted for Clinton to be impeached. His crime was MUCH less serious than the crimes in this case. I gather you have missed the GAO report that the withholding of aid violated federal law.
67
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State." - Joseph Goebbels
55
Portman, whose impeachment were you at? Were you playing with the fidget toy one of your colleagues handed out, which clearly showed that that person wasn't interested in the proceedings? Were you asleep or out of the chamber drinking milk? You have chosen to keep a criminal in office and you should be voted out of office. You and your cohorts have now emboldened trump to do whatever he pleases as he has no self reflection, no humility, no shame and no honor.
His pretense of caring about this country is so obviously a patent lie that his "speech" last showed how callous and callow he is. And you stood and cheered. You are a disgrace.
60
Senator, you have betrayed your Oath of Office and the Oath you took to be an impartial juror.
You voted for no witnesses or documents in the Senate Trial ... in other words You and Your GOP colleagues voted to cover up President Trump's high crimes.
No matter how you spin it you chose your career and your Party over Country and the Constitution. Cowardly ...
59
I do hope the senetor is going to address these comments.
15
Rob Portman, how stupid do you think your constituents are? Really? At long last? Where is your shame? Do you expect people to believe that Congress wouldn't have had far more evidence and testimony if Trump hadn't obstructed Congress to prevent the truth from coming out? Of course you don't think that. So your complaint about a "thin" case isn't legitimate and you're not even touching on the count based specifically on Trump's own obstruction of the investigation. You're voting to say no president ever needs to cooperate with any investigation again if they don't feel like. Your sophistry makes you worse than Mitch McConnell. At least he never pretends to care about justice or the Constitution. If you want to abdicate your responsibility to hold the Executive Branch in check for your own wanton, craven reasons, have the decency to admit it! Don't put forth your circular argument that wouldn't work for a 6th grade debate team.
52
Because he is, like his GOP colleagues, a weasel.
40
Thank you Mr. Portman and your dimwitted republican colleagues for selling out to a useless dictator. You’ve now set a president. I for one can’t wait for next Democrat president to do whatever they want. Lock trump and mcconnell up, great! Pack the Supreme Court. Even better! Declare a national emergency to combat climate change. Fantastic! Congrats you’ve just made the senate more useless than it was before. 
44
this would be a lot shorter if you just admitted you were spineless.
66
Get back to the business of the Senate where NOTHING is getting done! That's so weak. How much Russian money are you also getting, Senator?
44
Don't try to change the subject. You, and your fellow Senators who vote to acquit the President, are cowards.
42
Acquittal = acquiescence
35
Because you have no honesty nor honor?
35
yes, if you were really interested in discovering the truth about the president's actions, one way or the other, you would have allowed witness testimony. but you didn't so you don't, so you have no credibility with me. peddle this nonsense to your echo chamber.
43
Interesting your picture is in silhouette, as if you're trying to make sure people don't know what you look like, as if you're hiding yourself from the public. Very telling.
30
As a veteran who served in the Gulf War I am disgusted that *this* is what I sacrificed almost a decade of my life protecting. This piece is nothing but lies and spin in some misguided attempt to divert attention away from your cowardice and kowtowing to a wanna-be dictator and a corrupt one at that. Shame on you Portman, shame on the Senate and shame on the USA. May God not bless and keep her her today.
58
Rob Portman, sadly one of my state's senators, rises from the somnambulance that describes his entire political career, spews a load of nonsense, and then recedes into further insignificance. The Republican Party's tolerance for the most corrupt President in history is no longer surprising but still discouraging. What a waste!
42
curious — not serious enough to punish trump, but you voted to impeach Clinton for inappropriate extramarital consensual sex. no more needs to be said
44
One more dagger into Democracy's back. Whoever is teaching Republicans yoga should be commended for their ability to twist themselves into knots trying to explain away abhorrent behavior by the sycophant who resides in the White House. Shame!
40
What are the consequences for what Donald Trump has done Senator? There will be none. Without consequence, who doesn't believe that he may be empowered to try to cheat again? After all, he still believes it was a "perfect" call. Republicans continue to enable his dishonorable behavior, your party is a disgrace.
39
Here's my headline response: "Why I don't care why you are voting to acquit Trump."
31
So ... distorting US elections and endangering an ally at war with a US foe is not impeachable, but not telling the public that you're having an affair is ... whereas paying hush money to a prostitute you were having an affair with while your third wife was pregnant, isn't impeachable either ... ?
You're not a "moderate" interested in "consensus", Mr. Portman.
You're part of the DC swamp, supporting a corrupt party that gives medals to extremist liars like Rush Limbaugh.
By the way, why did Trump give him that medal in the first place? Was it hush money again, knowing that Limbaugh already criticized him at the end of 2017 for having badly failed on his signature campaign infrastructure promise (building a southern border wall, something that obviously will only be possible when a wall bill gets signed into law) ... ?
What a scam.
38
Spare us. You are voting to acquit because you value party over country, even when it means endangering all of us by leaving in place a manifestly unfit, criminal tyrant of a President. You and your colleagues are a historic disgrace whose treachery we will forever remember.
49
Excusing a “unitary executive” whose model is Roy Cohn in his cruelty and vile abuse of power just "to get things done” has dangerous echoes. Tepid disapproval in the face of Machiavellian menace contradicts all of we were taught in the high school we shared, by the teachers we respected. Rob--your reputation for reason is another victim of fearful base politics, a new McCarthyism that you will long regret. Rob--what has happened to you?
30
you have sold your soul to the devil called donnie trump. his call and attempt to try and bully the president of ukraine to deal with trumpian falsities were amoral and illegal, and as a real senator you should know that. you voted on a historical senate intent to refuse witness and documents, the first time in american history during an impeachment trial in the senate. you are a shallow man scared of donnie and that is why are choosing not to do the right thing. but the american public now sees that donnie owns the gop and therefor he owns you. i promise you if a democratic president had done the outrageous things that donnie did regarding ukraine, you would voted guilty. now, you are just a mere obsequious sycophant, a frightened follower, a pure wimp. history will look down on you and your party and especially trump.
27
And as an Ohioan, I will do everything I can to make sure you're voted out of office next election. Shame on you.
54
Blah! Blah! Blah! from another partisan hack Senator unwilling to fight for America as Trump sets out to destroy our most cherished institutions and subvert the office he holds. Portman should be ashamed to regurgitate the lies put forward by the Trump defense attorneys, but there is no shame in the Republican party and no depths to which they will not sink. Draining the swamp should start in the Senate, move to K street and then onward to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
32
Uh huh. Obstructing justice is only a crime if Democrats do it. Government programs that cost money are only "socialism" if Democrats propose them. Got it. See you in November!
38
McConnell has sworn to block all legislation if Trump is not re-elected this year. His entire focus is maintaining his grip on power. He has no interest in truth or justice. I had no illusions that he might vote to convict the most corrupt individual I have seen in my life.
And all the Republican senators have done as they were told to do because they are morally bankrupt cowards afraid of losing a nice job.
Look at the history of Germany in the 1930s for an idea of how this might end. Senator, you are among the traitors to this country. You disgust me.
41
Why did the Times provide a platform for this unserious person to recycle a bunch of stale talking points? Tell me, Senator, what objective criteria did you apply in determining Trump’s conduct did not meet the bar for removal?
25
Two words to sum up this op-ed: corrupt hypocrisy.
Welcome to the swamp, Mr. Portman.
30
What you mean is, “I’m too scared of the president to do the right thing.” Which is fine but you should step down and allow a real leader, someone with ethics and a spine, to take your place in the senate.
34
Bi-partisan, Senator Portman?.....like Judge Merrick Garland?
34
You'll go down in history with this most infamous Senate session ever. I am ashamed of what you've done the last 3 years and at last night's disgraceful, dishonest, disrespectful rally masquerading as a State of the Union Address.
32
So Poodle Portman talks himself into choosing party over country. Is Ohio listening? Woof Woof.
25
Go Senator Mitt Romney!!!!
What a guy to be standing alone!
Here comes the wrath from trump .
16
So what happens when Trump abuses his power again, which is certain to happen, given his defective moral compass? What happens next time when a whistleblower comes forward to report more abuse, or fearing for their life or reputation, doesn't come forward fearing that the Republicans will expose their identity?
You are a coward and not worthy of being a US Senator.
31
Because you are prepared to enable a criminal to keep your job.
That’s why.
26
Another profile in cowardice.
25
Mitt Romney’s speech today had so much more integrity than Rob Portman’s editorial here in the Times.
28
You have violated your oath of office, the only honorable thing to do is to resign and take your high paying lobbyist/lackey position now.
21
Republicans form a posse of thugs who have each other's backs no matter what, and then they accuse the other side of "partisan" politics. Priceless. Absolutely priceless.
Mussolini is back, and this time he's got an all white almost all male "representation" of "America" with him. Trump is not going to leave the office.
16
You have this wrong. Mr. Portman is a corrupt coward from Ohio who somehow manages to get access to the Senate. He is no senator.
18
Shame on you Senator. You vote to acquit guarantees you will fall on the wrong side of history and renders your service to this Country as dishonorable.
17
Your op ed piece should be titled “why I chose my party over the US Constitution.”
29
Mitt Romney just announced he will vote to impeach POTUS Trump.
17
You better never run for a national office Rob, or any office where you don't know for certain the majority of voters believe as you do. How does it feel to check your conscience at the door? Or do you not have one?
18
On behalf of all informed and fair-minded Americans, let me just say this, Senator Portman: We are not as dumb as you seem to think.
26
History will not acquit you, sir.
You have disgraced yourself & forever joined the ignominious ranks of former Ohio senators, Benjamin Tappen & John Smith.
18
Senator Portman,
Do you not see the great hypocrisy you embody? You are shameless along with all the Republicans who have twisted themselves to try to explain and defend the indefensible. I am not sure why you even bothered to write this op ed. Crime is crime and it SHOULD matter that the President of the United States tried to shake down a vulnerable ally. He is no more than a bully, and a greedy, selfish narcissist. You will reap what you sow and sadly, we will all have to live with the consequences your party has set in motion.
19
Why are you saying "any effort to tie the release of military aid to investigations"? Shouldn't you say, "his tying the release of military aid to investigations" given the exhaustive evidence and testimony? Do you know think the case has been proven because someone like John Bolton hasn't testified that the release of military aid was tied to investigations?
When you say, "like treason or bribery" do you mean that there are other things that fall into "high crimes and misdemeanors"? Does "obstruction" fall under this umbrella? If not, why do you think that congressional oversight should be voluntary on the part of the president, going forward?
Why do you have problems with a supposed "half-baked case" when it comes to acquittal, but seem content with such a case when it comes to having actual witnesses and documents in a trial, as Senate impeachment trials have had in the past? Aren't you interested in the hundreds of documents that the White House is withholding, and in John Bolton's willingness to testify under oath?
Do you not care about the answers to any of these questions? Are you simply counting on a sufficient number of your constituents living in a low-information/right-wing-media-bubble environment and not noticing your partisan hypocrisy? If so, how can I live in a world where creeps like you would never dare to write op-eds like this that waste our time and insult our intelligence?
17
Here is what your local papers say, Senator Portman.
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/2020/01/30/opinion-rob-portman-knee-deep-ukraine-incident/4596522002/
12
Senator Portman, since you participated in the Clinton impeachment, this isn't your first rodeo. So either you twisted your logic into pretzel to vote to impeach Clinton, or you are twisting your logic into a pretzel to acquit Trump. Or maybe you just go the way the wind blows to satisfy your own requirements for donations or the requirements of your party, without any regard for the benefit of the country. If, as I suspect, it is the later, you fit right in with the current Republican Party. RIP GOP.
13
Rob Portman - you need to listen to Mitt Romney's speech and rethink your decision. Or perhaps, you are just not that type of American. You will wear the scarlet letter of "toady and fool" in the footnote of history.
22
You could have written this piece in one sentence: "I'll vote to acquit because I'm a coward."
21
Senator Portman? No, Senator Quisling. More proof that Ohio, once the home of John Glen, is the new Alabama.
15
“You make up your mind
You choose the chance you take...
You can’t walk away
From the price you pay...”
- Bruce Springsteen
I hope Portman and all his corrupt cronies pay the price in November.
19
Dream on, and on and on and on and on and on Senator Portman. Who would work with known, blatant hypocrites and expect to get anything done.
An ostrich stuffed animal for you and your colleagues as a symbol of courage.
12
O-H-I-O.
Where’s Neal Young when we really need him, again ?????
15
I'm voting to acquite president trump because I'm a coward. - Rob Portman.
13
"I'm a coward who cares more about his job than the United States of America."
There, fixed it for you Rob.
21
Senator your reasoning is laughable. The only think greater than your lack of courage is Trumps willingness to trample the constitution and Mitch McConnell's loyalty to the Republican party and his lack of loyalty to We the People.
14
Where were you when they let a President get away with extortion? And now you come up with this? Get a grip and some ethics.
12
"Thinnest evidentiary record," huh? Then why didn't you demand that the White House comply with subpoenas for materials and witnesses?
18
Trump should have been impeached on day 1. There are 22 credible sexual assault allegations against him - that is more than enough. Add on the nepotism, self-dealing, corruption, and all Senators not voting for his impeachment from day 1 are not fulfilling their duties and should be kicked out of office as well.
16
With your vote to acquit, our country descends into darkness. Your vote trashes our constitutional democracy and affirms Trumpism where we are told that up is down and down is up.
17
Portman, you're a joke, and I'll be donating to your opponent.
18
Definition of bribe from the dictionary
"persuade (someone) to act in one's favor, typically illegally or dishonestly, by a gift of money or other inducement"
Is this not what the president did - bribery ? Withhold Ukraine aid for a personal favor.
7
I'm from Ohio...and Portman does not represent me, his constituent. He will not EVER get my vote. Spineless!
20
A profile in cowardice. A bad faith argument that could come from the mouth of any GOP senator, cynically written by Mitch. No mention of blocking witnesses, and no mention of GOP's role in disrupting and rushing the impeachment through the house in the first place. Republicans no longer care about facts or ethics.
17
Senator Portman's piece is full of half-truths, evasions, and hypocrisy. He's voting to acquit because he puts himself and his party before the good of the nation.
15
King Trump refusing to drop his own personal dirty like feelings about ANY opponent showed his true colors in not even obeying normal protocol by refusing to shake the hand of the Speaker of the House shows his true colors ,another apologist for this egotistical man ,will not be acceptable to those of us who are older remembering when politics had some form of public civility
for the better of the greater good ,which was once called respect.`
6
Portman will share the blame as he watches Trump and his extremist unqualified judges strip away his gay son's personal rights and freedoms. Down with tyranny. Enough is enough.
10
Portman must feel seriously guilty about shirking his duty to make an independent judgement about Trump's conduct. Why otherwise would he bother to wrap words around all of the Rs canonical talking points. Not serious enough for impeachment? Seriously, now, how else could you characterize a serious effort to induce through multiple means a foreign government's interference with our election and making our own security less? No, Mr. Portman, you are a fraud.
8
This was a fairly simple case of extortion using our tax money. Contort yourself all you want Senator, you won't get my vote.
17
Promises bipartisanship, reneges when the idea comes from the other side of the aisle. Head in the clouds, doesn't care about his constituents, just toeing the party line. What a waste of a Senate vote. We all know you're lying, Rob. Unfortunately your constituents don't.
6
By making the choice you have to let a sham of a President not be held accountable for his high crimes and removed from office, you are aiding and abetting his past and future crimes against our democracy. Thank you so much for your work! You are an embarrassment to your office and this country.
9
I hope you lose your next election. You put together a lot of thoughtful reasons, but the most important is that you know you need to be faithful to Trump or he will destroy you.
10
I came here for the comments, and they do not disappoint.
17
Looks like Portman drew the shortest straw and had to write the GOP Op Ed for the NYT. It should play on Fox News.
Portman is a scared little boy who surrendered his courage and self-esteem three years ago. We are witnessing him publicly soil himself.
13
Mr. Portman, be honest. You are voting to acquit because it would be political suicide to do otherwise. Americans are tired of being lied to by politicians. If you can't tell the truth, just be quiet.
15
Nice try Mr. Portman, but your hands are now forever dirty, complicit in this cover up. If there ever was a clear cut case for impeachment this is it. You will be remembered come November. All of you senators who reject the rule of law & the U.S. Constitution for political survival (you think) will forever be remembered as traitors, for rejecting what this country was built upon. We are better than this as a nation, we will survive, without you and your lying eyes.
12
If the same charges were made against a Democrat, like President Obama, or Hillary Clinton - who won the 2016 popular vote - would you still vote to acquit? Probably not...
You did not vote to call witnesses, and you are covering up for Trump. Obstructing Congress, and extorting foreign governments to indulge whacked-out conspiracy theories for Trump's re-election campaign is shameful and not acceptable. Where is your integrity and pride for the United States?
Trump is a disgrace and should be removed from office. So should you.
13
How does he do it? How does the Scoundrel in Chief persuade otherwise rational senators to commit political suicide? History will not be kind. Mr. Portman, please let the voting public in on this craven process! Have you gotten so far from the Golden Rule that you cannot imagine your own sobbing child ripped from your arms and put in a cage. Before a nation of attentive and alarmed young people will you trade away clean air and water, civility, truth, fairness and join the impotent chorus singing-- it just didn't rise, I'll vote to acquit as lemmings all, you plunge off a moral cliff.
9
You lost me at "no crime is alleged" Clearly you have not been paying attention. How are our elected officials this brazenly dishonest?
15
Bill Clinton had a mistress and said he didn't, when asked about it. That, Sen. Portman at the time argued, is highly impeachable material.
Two decades later, he accepts to cover up a president who's main lawyer is now in jail for having paid hush money, at the president's request, to a prostitue with whom he was having an affair while his third wife was pregnant - just to ask that prostitute to lie about their affair the way he continues to lie about it during his entire presidency.
Is this Senator arguing that as the Senate didn't impeach Clinton, at the time, the GOP should now forgive a president who's doing much worse, in his private life?
No, he's arguing that we should forgive a president who's doing much worse in his private life AND who bribes foreign governments in order to try to distort US elections.
Does anyone see any logic or moral integrity here?
No?
That's because there isn't.
Shame on you, Mr. Portman.
17
Let me correct you, Senator. You are voting to acquit because you care about your political future more than you care about our democracy (if you care about our democracy at all).
14
Oh, Senator Portman. You're going to be hearing from me and the rest of your constituents today. Your hypocrisy and cowardice have been eloquently described by other commenters. But I can't figure out why you would choose to publish this piece, stepping into a spotlight at a moment when your actions are so ugly?
You've worked hard to cultivate an image as a moderate, but I don't buy it. Nobody outside our state has asked you to do the right thing. We know you won't. We've all been busting down the doors of your slightly braver colleagues, Senators Collins and Murkowski, and the scrutiny on those 'gettable' moderates will likely cost them their seats this fall. So why would you cast yourself as 'gettable'? Why would you want all that heat?
Are you thinking about a presidential run? Trying to raise your national profile as a heroic moderate? If so, you've made a grave miscalculation. No one will love you for this. Reasonable people will hate you for your vote, and the MAGA crowd will hate you for saying Trump is guilty.
You blew it. This vote will be as toxic as a vote for the Iraq war- maybe not this week, maybe not even this year. But someday, it's going to be obvious what was the right thing to do here. And you've just admitted, in print, that you were too cowardly to do it. You won't be able to pretend you didn't know what he was. Whether you're running for reelection here in Ohio or in a presidential primary, this is all anyone is going to remember.
17
The House created this circus and expected the Senate to validate it. Had the House actually performed its duties and not played partisan politics, they would not be whining with displeasure now. The facts would have come out and a fair, open, unbiased trial on the charges would had occurred. To put it bluntly, DO YOUR JOB!!!! It’s what you were elected for.
2
Senate Republicans have failed the American people and the Constitution. By voting against witnesses and to acquit Senate Republicans ignore the responsibility they were given by being members. Shame on them for transforming America into a Banana Republic
9
Senator the dichotomy of your arguments from the Clinton impeachment versus the trump impeachment is as painful as listening to someone breaking their leg bone. The broken leg just hangs there useless as does your defense of trump.
6
He’s guilty but it’s not that serious so let’s just move on?
Mr. Portman...how do you sleep at night?
11
Rudy Giuliani in NPR interview this morning (2/5) said Of course he'll keep digging for dirt in Ukraine on Biden, after all, Trump hasn't asked him not to...
Republicans can't claim to be appalled by what Trump is doing and vote to absolve him of it. He'll just keep doing it again, which is what Adam Schiff and Giuliani both now have told us.
Surprise! You just enabled your Grand Master to keep up the bad work.
12
If Trump is not removed, and on the morning after election night it is determined that this cheating, lying, sociopath has been re-elected, how can anyone possibly accept the results as being valid. With nothing being done to ensure the Russians election interference is being thwarted, this existing Attorney General in place, these cowardly, disingenuous, obsequious sycophantic Republican Senators in place (Lev Parnas has even implicated Lindsey Graham as being involved in the Ukraine shake down), those Republican house members which include Devin Nunes, who was also implicated by Lev Parnas, there is no way anyone can honestly argue that the election was valid. And that being the case our democracy will then no longer be valid.
9
"The founders intended for impeachment to be extremely rare, and they required those seeking to remove the president to meet the burden of proving 'high crimes and misdemeanors,' like treason or bribery. In this case, unlike in other impeachments, no crime was alleged."
Indeed! Well, except for the minor issue of refusing to give Ukraine $400 million in aid unless & until it began a purely partisan investigation into allegations Trump knew (or should've known) were false – namely that Russia, not Ukraine, interfered in our 2016 elections, as confirmed by literally every U.S. intelligence agency – as well as agreeing to a personal favor of digging up dirt on Trump's opponent.
Wait, what's that, you say? This isn't "bribery" per se? How about we call it "making an offer he couldn't refuse"? Still not an impeachable offense? Gotcha. And lemme guess: Trump's bribery of multiple mistresses during his presidential campaign – and subsequently lying about it, both in public & in private – "doesn't count" because it wasn't the subject of this *specific* impeachment hearing!
This would be some impressive pretzel logic if it wasn't already such a sickeningly warped distortion of the Founding Fathers' intent to preclude America from ever being led by a bona fide despot – one enabled in his crimes against this country by a group of the most gallingly spineless Senate Republicans in the nation's 230+ year history.
9
Consensus? Republicans have shown no interest in consensus in the last 25 years. You’re disingenuous at best.
8
I appreciate Senator Portman doing the work of writing this Op-Ed. I profoundly disagree with his point of view and I hope he does the work of reading the comments.
If we can't remove a President for attempting to use our tax money to spread lies about his opponent, we've committed ourselves to undermining fairness and therefore, democracy. Portman even says the President did something wrong but impeachment is too much, and he doesn't mention censure. He's telling the country, "If my President wants to cheat against the opposing party, (expletive) them and be my guest." Republicans claim they can't 'subvert the will of the voters.' They aren't. Trump is responsible for hurting his voters by committing a crime. His voters sent him there to govern, not to cheat. Meanwhile Republicans don't care about disenfranchising the majority of Americans who didn't vote for Trump nor ignoring 70% of Americans who wanted to hear witnesses.
I'm also tired of hearing insults against the House from Republicans and some media. The White House wouldn't allow the House to interview key witnesses, they wouldn't give them key documents, and they wanted them to crawl through the court system until after the election when it was obvious the President was trying to cheat. These Republicans sound like a rapist blaming his victim for walking home after dark after he slashed her tires. It's gaslighting, and I for one am eager to end this toxic relationship in November.
10
Senator Portman as is the custom of all Republicans in the Senate uses arguments from the Republican party handbook just like the communists did under Stalin.
They refuse to call relevant witnesses and then refer to the house record as half baked. They refuse to challenge the president on sweeping use of privilege and then say there is insufficient evidence. look in the mirror Senator and see Dorian Gray.
7
Senator Portman, there is only one reason you are voting to acquit Trump. You have the ethics of Trump.
8
More than 200 bills are languishing in the senate. What have you been doing all this time? I am ashamed to have you represent my district and my state.
11
Wouldn't it have been easier to say "because I'm a Republican"?
9
Theres a call record of him asking for a bribe and you voted against seeing the transcript or hearing from witnesses. Thats your legacy.
11
No, he's voting to acquit Trump because he's a Republican – Short and sweet.
5
Portman voted to Impeach Clinton and now votes to acquit Trump...looks like he is deeply entrenched in the GOP's ideological camp. More meaningless lip service from a cowardly GOP hack.
9
What a disappointing, narrow-minded, fact-less explanation.
12
Senator Portman, how dare you suggest that you and your fellow partisans have taken your vote to acquit out of any concern whatsoever about what the founders intended? As many have pointed ,out, "high crimes and misdemeanors" was a legal term of art with a 400-year history under English law – the system under which Madison, et al. received their legal education – with a very clear and specific meaning, namely, violations of the public trust. To suggest the constitutional language refers to violations of federal criminal statute, when such statutes did not exist at the time the Constitution was written, debated and adopted is legal and historical nonsense, and is an insult to the intelligence of every American citizen. You fool no one but yourself!
16
The president broke the law! You are now complicit in his crimes , along with all others that support him.
So party comes before truth for the Rep party......the party can never be trusted again.
15
How sad for Senator Portman that his vote and this statement will be reported when the story of the most corrupt President in history is written. He could have chosen to discover the depth of the rot by calling witnesses and for documents. He could have protected the Constitution (you know, the one he took two oaths on the Bible to protect) by clearly stating that no President is above the law. Instead he is supporting the position that whatever the President wants to do is ok. The President is King. We all should post this on our refrigerators to send to him when a Democrat is elected as President. Oh, those will be the days...the King is gone, long live the new King.
8
Absolutely no reason for me to read this. I've heard the lame excuses before. If you don't care about the truth the Constitution, honor and the rule of law, Senator, so be it. Your vote says it all. America knows where you stand. History will remember.
9
You should do something else with your life. And by the way, my medicines have increased in cost since the new year began.
14
Looks like Bob has had a conversion of the lessor kind...an apostle of the Church of What's Happenin' Now. Nothing new here, folks. Let's move on. There will be a lot of these justifications. All of them worthless but telling just the same.
5
The Senators rationalization of his vote on impeachment is nonsense. What would have partisan about having Steve Bannon present?
6
Partisan? Yes, but in the exact opposite of your accusation. Rushed? Thin? You mean like the Senate argument against impeachment? Oh.
8
Senators Portman, Murkowski et al.: it's a little bit late to call Trump's actions inappropriate, isn't it? Not one of you - either in the House nor the Senate - made such statements until the impeachment articles and the question of witnesses went around for debate in the Senate. The GOP purposely allowed the President to get away with his actions and left it to the conscious conservative media types like Charlie Sykes and Bill Kristol to cry foul! Shame on all of you -- if Obama had conducted any type of probe against Mitt Romney you would have run him out of Washington!
9
Portman, like the rest of the Trump Party are hypocrites. Their values are conditional and flexible beyond recognition. Pompeo's colors changed so much since the Benghazi hearings, it's hard to know it's the dude. He went from needing to see everything when he was on offense, but believes he needs to produce anything on defense.
Amazing, how the party of christian values with a topping of patriotic law and order have become beholdened to likes of "The Ugly American", to reject government accountability and provide cover for an immoral president - Shameful at best!
5
"I do not believe these..."
Why use facts to break or bolster your position when you have belief(s)?
There is now Here and it Is.
4
Senator Portman. Please reflect on your own words before the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. In case you have forgotten one of your constituents has remembered for you.
6
Senator, you obviously know that voting to convict is the right decision, or you would not be trying to justify making the wrong choice.
Please do the honorable thing to save our democracy and your place in history.
3
So he can continue cheating for the coming election?
5
Nice try Senator Portman. But you strike out. Your 'opinion' is nothing more than tired canned GOP talking points.
As a fellow alumnus from the Dartmouth class of 1978, I expected more from you.
Tragic. Sadly and inexplicably tragic.
6
My, how times have changed. A mere 22 years ago a presidential peccadillo with a consenting intern was enough to call down the wrath of the Founding Fathers. Lying about it was bad, sure. But did it rise to the level of the nuclear option, impeachment? Now the GOP would have us believe that a president who likely has, at best, sought to cooperate with, and, at worst, taken direction from Vladimir Putin, has only done something “improper.” They must think the American people are truly stupid.
9
Tell us honestly that you wouldn't have convicted Obama for the exact same thing.
9
Senator Portman, you and your GOP cronies are shamelessly trying to have your cake and eat it too. You hope to dodge your responsibility for not taking this opportunity to remove this criminal president by saying that Trump's actions were wrong but not impeachable.
Those of us who are paying attention are not that easily fooled. We will exercise our voting power to remove you, and the president whose crimes you enable, from office this November.
The House managers masterfully proved Trump engaged in illegal and unethical behavior. The GOP Senate has dropped the ball by ignoring all the evidence and refusing to hear even more damning evidence that could have been presented.
The true tragedy here is that we all know these illegal Ukraine actions represent the tip of the iceberg of Trump's wrongdoing and by failing to remove him from office you have condoned all his past transgressions and enabled him to continue his vile behavior into the future.
You should be ashamed. Your inaction at this critical time will haunt you and all of us for the foreseeable future.
12
Remember, back in the day, when you would go to the circus and there was a bunch of seals that their trainer would command to get up on little stands, bite on a horn, then clap their flippers? The Senate GOP remembers.
5
I'd like to take the opportunity to profusely thank Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi, Jerry Nadler, et al for their stellar efforts to end Trump's lawless corruption. If not for craven cowards like Portman and the rest of the GOP, our Constitution would not be frayed as it is today.
May you soon be gone from office, and may the history books reflect the sentiments written here today.
22
The case could easily be made this was a simple case of bribery. He wasn’t being bribed....he was the person instigating the bribery...a high crime.
11
The Founders also created the Electoral College to make sure that the voters were never allowed to pick a President that consistently speaks falsehoods, faked health issues to get out of the draft, uses his wealth to break contracts with people who cannot afford to hold him to his contracts and once in office extort a foreign leader to do his bidding.
Since the Electoral College puts its tribe over the country and the Senate is putting its tribe over the country then one can only conclude that the Social Contract in the United Sates is broken and may well be beyond repair.
If that is in fact comes to pass, then Jefferson was correct that we may need the blood of Patriots and Tyrants to run in our streets to rectify the Social Contract. Given that the Country is evenly split, if it comes to that ---it will make the Period of 1861 to 1865 look like child's play.
You Senator will be remembered as one of the people who unleashed the dogs of our future Civil War that will likely visit your Grandchildren or Great-Grandchildren.
5
I didn't know that the only two options were acquit or remove. Is this true or am I missing something here?
Rob Portman: "Why I'm Voting to Acquit President Trump - because party loyalty comes before integrity, and like my republican colleagues I don't have the internal fortitude to to remove a corrupt President."
14
We understand Rob. Stonewall the evidence and then say there was thin evidence to convict. Party over country,as history will record. When Trump does this again or even worse,you and your GOP brethren will standby and allow the Constitution to be destroyed, and the balances in the government to be eradicated. Your rationalizations will haunt you Rob, as this corrupt Senate will go as worse than Tammany Hall. Children will be learning about Trump's corruption a hundred years from now.Much in the same way we have learned about McCarthyism. A stain on our country forever.
15
Senator Portman, you will be one of the many republicans who will not be able to hold his or her head up when all hell breaks loose and, believe me, Trump is a self-defeating prophecy. I seriously doubt that you and your fellow senators have thought this through and realize the personal responsibility you will be taking upon yourselves. You will be solely responsible for turning an emboldened, angry, vengeful Trump loose on the American people and the world. You will have to personally answer for all of Trump's behavior and whatever and whomever he destroys. You know deep in your heart that it's wrong to acquit this president. Ask God to help you find the courage to do the right thing. It's not too late.
8
"The mix of expedience and cravenness with which the institutional G.O.P. approached impeachment ... " (Ross Douthat, NYTimes, 1Feb2020) Cravenness is the right word: "Ignoble lack of courage". The tortured "justifications" for their votes given by Republican senators are laughable. And pitiful attempts to appear "impartial" which voters should see through completely. Yes, let's beat Mr. Trump AND his equally disgraceful minions.
3
another cop-out. attack the process, don't defend the defendant
3
Your acquittal is for political self-preservation. Your argument is thin, and poorly justified. ..."required those seeking to remove the president to meet the burden of proving “high crimes and misdemeanors,” like treason or bribery". Senator, he held millions in military aid over the head of an ally, in exchange for his own political benefit. You should have called it a bribe and upheld your oath. Nobody can take your honor from you. You gave it away freely.
8
Trump's Ukraine 'policy' did not occur in a vacuum, his entire term as President has been marked by a callous disregard for the fundamental beliefs that have defined our Country since its inception.
For Senator Portman to state Trump's shake-down of Zelensky does not rise to the level of impeachment would be acceptable if that were the only thing this disreputable, vulgar, thug has done but the litany of his petulance and vindictiveness is long and sadly, consistent. Putin over the intelligence community, Kim as the author of love letters to him, caging children, daily degradation of the office he holds and on and on....his actions prove his lack of competency or fitness for office.
6
Senator Portman, you say that you will vote to acquit because Trump's attempt to use my tax dollars to undermine an ally, aid an adversary, tamper with an election through foreign influence, advance a discredited conspiracy theory that further aids an adversary and undermines our own intelligence services, and to smear his own political opponent does not rise to the level of impeachment.
I'm so aghast at your conclusion that I fear I cannot offer my frank opinion without my comment being censored by the New York Times.
Are not free and fair elections foundational to the American experiment? How can you sacrifice such elections?
I wish that Republican senators would address what many of us suspect. That you will vote to acquit because you fear being targeted on Twitter. That is what we suspect. I wish you would address it. I wish you would at least try to convince me that your vote to acquit is not prompted simply by fear of a Twitter backlash and loss of re-election campaign funding from Mitch McConnell.
11
"It was also the only purely partisan impeachment in history."
Because your party excommunicates anyone who denies the divinity of Trump. Ask Justin Amash.
5
The writer could have admitted to his own cravenness and willingness to encourage a criminal presidency in far fewer words.
8
republicans - all corruption - all the time - its always and only about money - I can;t wait for the grab for social security and medicare money under the insulting guise of protecting our money.
3
This article really could have been one word: fear. Rob Portman and his colleagues are afraid and weak in the face of clear constitutional abuse.
5
I too am a constituent of Mr. Portman and have never been a fan. When the right to marry issue came up in our state, he was resolutely against it - until his own son came out. Suddenly, it was personal to him.
His support of the current White House resident (I refuse to claim him) is horrifing in its gratuitousness to someone who has never deserved it. This is an operation of fear, not loyalty - he knows, as does everyone else on the planet that we have a self-centered bully riding herd. Does he think that this will be rewarded somehow? Mr. Portman lives in NE Ohio, he knows how the Mob works.
My real question to him, is what, in his mind WOULD constitute a High Crime or Misdermeanor by the President? He certainly had no problem attacking Mr. Clinton for lieing about a personal indescretion. Disgusting, yes, a high crime - seriously? But it seems to be perfectly ok for our democracy to be used for personal political gain. THAT does not seem to disgust him. Sir, you are in the wrong job.
Senators were by design to be the keepers of rationality in government. Now, they seem to only be self-aggrandising power brokers. They will put up with hideous (and illegal) behaviors, so they can keep their own offices.
Remember, history does repeat itself and this will come back around with a vengence.
For certain, I will do what I can to ensure neither Mr. Portman nor the current White House occupant keep their jobs.
10
"Lowering Prescription Drug Costs. .........The House has its own plan. .............. there is no reason we should not be able to find common ground here."
Newsflash: Mitch McConnell is the man who your vote makes majority leader, and the man who plans to fund all of your reelections with funding from big Pharma. McConnell has a will of iron, and he will not let the Democratic House bill pass or anything effective like it. And whether you admit it or not, you make McConnell possible.
That blather is just one example of your twisted efforts to distract and justify a shameful vote that will stick with you in the history books.
I propose we build a ten feet square bronze plaque to be placed in the Capitol building with the most insanely hypocritical and illogical quotes from the Republican Senators justifying this dereliction of their constitutional duties. In a few years, when all the other shoes have dropped, and when even that minority of America that currently denies the full extent of Trump's criminal behavior then acknowledges the truth, these quotes will look even worse than they do now.
Pardoning Nixon told the GOP it was okay to break the law and betray the nation's trust in order to steal elections. Let's rub their noses in what they have done.
4
Bob Portman is in the Parnas files which will soon we will get to see more and more of it.
4
There is a difference between choosing to be partisan and being forced to be partisan because the other side is partisan. It is the difference between Germany and Britain in World War II, and this difference is clear except to those who do not want to see it.
Republicans were partisan under Clinton, and tried to impeach him. They were partisan under dubya, and supported his cooking of the evidence to get to the war he and Darth Cheney wanted --the ultimate change of subject from his being asleep at the switch in 2000. And they were partisan under Obama, who desperately wanted the country to come together, tried his best not to be partisan, and ultimately failed.
Bipartisan proposals on several issues exist on Mitch McConnell's desk, and he makes sure they do not get a vote. Portman supports him.
Portman is a partisan who pretends not to be in order to sucker those who are sick of the partisanship.
Acquitting Trump will not heal the partisan divide. It will end when most of the country accepts floods and fires and bad harvests and ten thousand lies as normal, or when the Republican Party is marginalized and most of Fox's news viewership turns to other sources for their information.
5
Impeachment is need to stop a crime in progress! It's not about punishment but about making our 2020 election fair.
2
Not since the so called "tea party" angry fit against ACA and McConnell's remarkably cynical sabotage of Obama's infrastructure/rebuilding efforts to climb out of the 08 Great Recession, I've seen not one iota of nonpartisanship from the republicans. If our country continues onto this path it's on into a nondemocratic, fascist gov. it will be solely because of the reactionary right, AKA, republican party. If I were a young adult I would be seriously looking into more humane, less destructive nations to live in.
4
This befits a senator who considers his own advantage first. Portman changed his stance on gay issues only after his child came out. If he thought voting to acquit would hurt his political future, you bet he would vote guilty. He's no better than the other morally challenged cowards on his side of the aisle.
Senator Romney stands tall today. In following his conscience, he has cut his fellow GOP Senators down to size. And taken the shine off trump's inevitable celebration.
14:45 EST, 2/05
7
The only reason there wasn't "due process" in the House was because every potential witness received a legally dubious letter from Trump's lawyers that it was illegal for them to testify, and threatening them with legal action if they did; and the administration refused to submit even one subpoena'd document pertaining to the crime. Does that mean the crime did not happen? There wasn't a trial, as you well know.
Your idea that "now we can all get along" is a joke. You are smart enough to know better.
3
Wow. The convolutions these things make to justify inaction. Ok, let me spell it out ... Asking for help to win an election from a foreign country and making military aid contingent on it is called BRIBERY. This country is doomed.
4
This is not naivete, or a lack in understanding the abuses of office and/or powers, or a misunderstanding of the duties, the ramifications inherent in taking an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States.
One must conclude that in refusing to do one's sworn duty to the country, the electorate they represent these men and women are guilty of a very tardy character flaw, cowardice.
Fine words, Senator Portman. Fine words. Some thoughts come to mind:
(1) The emphasis upon cooperation and bipartisan legislation--sounds nice.
What kind of senator you are, sir, I don't know. I would hate to take an examination on every single senator and his or her record.
I am afraid such mollifying words coming from a Republican--no, sir, I don't believe them. Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes--"I fear the Greeks even when bearing gifts."
I am remembering--I will long remember--the policy articulated by your own Majority Leader around ten years ago. ALL legislation--ALL cooperation with "the folks on the other side of the aisle" was to be killed at sight. NOTHING was to be done--
--that might give Mr. Obama a merest chance of a second term.
I cannot believe you, sir, when you speak of "bipartisan cooperation." Your party's record does not encourage me to.
(2) As for Mr. Donald J. Trump--
--what to say, sir? I'm running out of space.
The man is a crook. He has always been a crook. Millions of us feel--can you doubt it?--he is simply unfit for the office he holds. He showed that during his campaign. He's been showing us ever since.
Especially now.
He should be removed.
Sorry.
4
People of Ohio should be proud that Portman used this week's spin (it isn't impeachable), instead of last week's spin (there's no evidence Trump was directly involved). There was a republican on NPR this morning who was still using last week's spin. It's embarrassing when you get your spin mixed up when you are engaging in a cover-up.
3
To @lightening14
Thank you for saying so well what so many of us think and feel. I live in Ohio. I believe in integrity, honesty and the rule of law. Senator Portman does not. I have called and written to him but to no avail, and I am done with him. I will not read this opinion piece or listen to another word he has to say. I will spend my time working towards replacing him.
8
"We can do that by demonstrating that we can work together and address the issues our constituents care most about."
Seriously the funniest thing I have heard for the past three years. Was that op-ed written by SNL crew?
2
This essay, Sen. Portman, is very disappointing. Its arguments are contrived and dishonest. How, pray tell, are we voters to take care of this transgression of Trump's at the ballot box, if you and your GOP colleagues won't let the full story come out? By not allowing or considering additional relevant evidence, you are engaging in a cover-up. Second, If you want to "take up consensus issues", there's a stack of 270-plus bipartisan bills on Majority Leader McConnell's desk, which he (and you all) have refused to bring to the floor. Third, you don't address the Obstruction charge, which is impeachable in itself (cf. Nixon's case). Fourth, using congressionally approved funds to extort political dirty work from an ally in mortal peril is very much a high crime. Your assessment of that campaign of deceit as "inappropriate" is as morally straight as Trump is.
7
It turns out Senator Romney understands his constitutional duty and the rule of law.
Senator Portman...not so much. Not at all.
9
Senator Portman: Neither smoke and mirrors (the preference of the Republican Senatorial crowd) nor willful ignorance (the preference of their supporters, and that of the MAGA crowd) can change the cold, hard, facts: that have been recorded on video and audio tape, not to mention all of the witnesses.
Donald Trump used his position as President of the USA to try and influence an election, an impeachable offense.
The ONLY reason you are voting for acquittal is to retain your position of power and keep Trump's approval. You, and Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham, and the rest your ilk, have -- by supporting Trump and everything he has done -- effectively destroyed the good standing of the USA in the world community, and helped drive our domestic policies back by several decades.
8
Well Mr. Portman your justification for voting to acquit the resident in the White House did not convinced me at all. It is not only what he did in that call. It is all the lies, verbal abuse, rudeness, name calling, contempt and many etceteras that he uses to navigate the actual politics.
He said that prescriptions are at the lowest. Lie. My cancer prescription doubled four months ago.
You will keep your insurance and remain happy about it. Lie. My insurance increased last year and the year before. Now has many restrictions. I can not go to any doctor I want.
He said the unemployment is at the lowest. Lie. My husband has not been able to find a job for two years. He is not a welder or a factory worker. He is college educated. Even though he has applied for everything, literally everything, he still is working free lance without benefits. For the blue collar jobs he is "overqualified".
In the last three years I have seen the rich people get richer and the poor people get poorer. His rhetoric serves for his own interests, he tells his followers whatever they want to hear just to get their votes. Even contradictions, even lies.
6
Senator.
Michael Cohen, Trump's previous lawyer, is serving time in a federal prison for, among other crimes, campaign finance violations.
So in your opinion, It's OK to jail Mr. Cohen but not OK to remove trump when both violated the same law, one for paying a sex worker, the other for abusing the office of the presidency in soliciting Ukraine's aid for trump's personal re-election benefit.
Removing trump would be too good for trump. If he's removed then Pence will become president and he'll pardon trump. I'd rather see trump in jail, not pardoned.
3
Let's see Sen. Portman's list of "consensus issues". How about the hundreds of House bills McConnell has frozen in the Senate?
7
Senator Portman, exactly what crime would this president have to commit for you to perceive it as a high crime or misdemeanor? If cheating the election does not meet your criteria, would you have voted to convict Nixon had his impeachment gone to trial? I don't think you would.
4
Mr. Portman,
If you don't have the courage to place country over party, please do the honorable thing and just resign. You have a hefty government pension coming your way.
Enough of the convoluted rationals. You believed Clinton should be removed from office, not Trump. Says it all.
6
I am truly alarmed to think that this piece might be too critical of the president to get any airtime on right-wing news.
Here, a Republican Senator concedes that the behavior of the leader he is defending is inconsistent with his values. But his base continues to be misled - by the exact kind of misinformation this whole inquiry was supposed to call out and stop.
Be truthful, Senator: you are a part of the misinformation campaign. You must do more, or this dishonest leader will twist your nuanced argument into "complete exoneration". Adam Shift is, of course, right that this president will continue to commit corrupt act after corrupt act with no shame, because there is no consequence. I seriously doubt he'll even read your article, because it doesn't say his phone call was perfect.
4
It is all about the vote on witnesses. Portman's attack on the case against Trump is vacuous because of the his vote to not bring forth witnesses to the trial in the Senate. Bolton would have severely damaged the Republican Party line that Trump is innocent. The Republican Senate is overtly complicit in the cover up of Trumps crimes with that vote to not hear from witnesses.
4
Senator, I am a constituent of yours. What would your parents say to you today as you cast your vote to continue to blithely unravel our democracy?
9
Senator, you say bribery is a removable offense, but extortion is not? I don't understand your moral calculus. Unless, of course, this is not actually a moral argument, in which case your political spinelessness makes total sense.
5
Again just pandering to the POTUS in fear and nothing else! Only brave senator on the Republican side is Senator Romney. The rest of have even less backbone than the POTUS. Sad day for this once great country when a president does something that most Americans agree was treasonous and then does everything he can to stand in the way of hearing the truth about it. Good always triumphs over evil and in the end the POTUS will have to meet the electorate and hopefully then we will literally vote him out of office.
3
Interesting that Rob Portman decides the House didn’t make a sufficient case, when it cannot be argued that Trump’s WH thwarted all attempts to investigate “who knew what when.”
3
Trump playing with milliions in military aid was an error in judgement. Clinton playing post office with Monica Lewinski was a gravely serious crime that threatened the United States and the world. Makes sense, in Fox News terms.
But let's move on to what we agree on. How about global warming? If your house floods, that's not a partisan issue, but it's one where the scientists are on one side and the genius is on the other.
3
Dear Senator Portman,
Stop blaming the House and take some responsibility. The American people wanted witnesses, especially John Bolton. With no witnesses and Lindsay Graham out front the whole thing looks like a Republican sham. Senate Republicans have not restored faith in this country. There is no higher crime or misdemeanor than interfering in an election and using foreign powers to smear potential opponents in an election. This is far worse than voter suppression and will make the Democrats believe the system is rigged against them. When you lose public faith in the system you lose democracy.
6
Dear Ohio. Please do the rest of us a favor and remove Mr. Portman and replace him with someone like Sherrod Brown.
Two lies in this piece:
1) He did NOT repeatedly state the call was inappropriate. In the early days of this scandal, he was shilling for Trump on the Sunday shows.
2) Getting back to business? Is he kidding? Bills addressing his "bolded" items have been languishing in the Senate.
Thank you for listening.
A NYer
8
Mr Portman, you seem to have omitted the small detail that the president will be acquitted on a "purely partisan basis".
6
Trump gave the U.S. Senate leverage to save the country from Trump and Trumpism. Before they vote this afternoon, every senator should consider the minute by minute danger having Trump in office holds for our nation and the entire world.
We've been very lucky not to have been drawn into a nuclear or other major conflict over the last three years. This is a man who asked, What is the point of having all these nuclear weapons if we can't use them? Any 2nd Lt. in the military could answer that question.
Trump is dangerous. He poses an imminent threat to the survival of the U.S. and perhaps the world at large. Because he is so forcefully ignorant on so many topics, because he tells himself, and us, that he is a very stale genius, he refuses to learn. Growth is beyond his capacity. The hubris is off any known scale.
Back in the '90s with his personal conduct, Bill Clinton also provided leverage to remove him. His "crimes", in comparison, were minor. Small beans.
Major disasters are set in motion by people telling themselves things will be alright. Yeah, we might survive but why take the chance when Trump has proven himself to be one who disregards the Constitution with no hesitation and calls it "perfect"?
3
If you don't think illegally withholding taxpayer money to coerce a foreign country into announcing a sham investigation of your political opponent in order to dishonestly influence an election rises to the level of impeachment, then you do not deserve to represent our democracy, or any other.
You have disgraced our nation.
6
Does this mean Democrats can now invite any foreign power who so wishes to reveal what they know or could discover about Trump's business practices on their soil? If this is a precedent, requesting outside aid in an election is now ok.
14
Everyone keeps saying the House impeachment was "purely partisan," and the only impeachment to be so. This is false. Justin Amash was a Republican congressman (extremely conservative) who called for the impeachment of Donald Trump, a position he maintained after leaving the party over this issue. So stop saying that not a single Republican supported impeachment.
6
I'm from Ohio and I've watched Senator Portman slide into the kind of politician who has sold his principles out for politics and his party.
He could have saved us time and simply written
Why I'm Voting to Acquit President Trump .... Because he's a Republican.
22
The statements in Portman's piece are a near carbon copy of what I received from Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) when I wrote to encourage him to allow witnesses in the trial. Repeated complaints of denial of due process obscure the fact that the legislatures make up their own processes in this instance. The only denial here has been the refusal of the chief executive to allow his employees to testify before congress. As they saying goes: Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
5
"the shortest proceeding, with the thinnest evidentiary record, and the narrowest grounds ever used to impeach a president":
all because the executive branch obstructed the efforts of the house to obtain documents and testimony from
Trump associates. Had the obstruction not succeeded, there would have been evidentiary record galore.
9
This is going to be a sad day for our country. Republicans have now given their approval that Republican Presidents are allowed to cheat in elections even at risk of endangering national security. I have never seen a group of people sell themselves out to such a terrible degree. I am very worried about the future of this country, and for the first time last night, my family and I actually discussed the possibility of leaving it, if this is the way it's going to be.
16
I would add one more thing to your "to do" list, Mr. Portman. Have the great state of Ohio elect someone with moral courage and respect for the rule of law to replace you in the Senate.
22
"And there’s more we can do, from infrastructure to retirement security to protecting our national parks." Really Senator?! The EPA is being dismantled and the Parks Service is in financial bind. Retirement security is being called an entitlement. And when is Infrastructure Month this year?
21
Now that I've relocated to Ohio, I cannot wait to organize voters to replace senator Portman with someone who has the moral fiber to do what is right for the country and not for self…and I honestly don't care at this point whether that person is a liberal or a conservative.
22
The Republicans work extremely hard to guarantee the sanctity of elections. Why when a state finds 2-3 cases of questionable votes out of thousands or millions of votes cast they jump to implement draconian voter restrictions. All in the interest of protecting elections.
However, when the person occupying the highest office in the land uses the power of that office to benefit him in the upcoming elections Republicans see nothing wrong. We will now work to protect our election system by contributing to and voting you and your colleagues out of office. See ya
22
Every single initiative listed repeatedly mocked by Senator Portman's own GOP forces as "socialist" or "wasteful" while trillions gifted to millionaires and billionaires defended as economic salvation for workers. Why even one American worker still falls for this transparent and immoral scam is an enduring mystery.
17
You have avoided the issue that you did not vote to get more information. From the trial I saw, the presidents conduct at least reaches the level of 'misdemeanor'. With the testimony of others we would know if it reached the level of high crimes. Why wouldnt you want to get that testimony? There is no reason not to get more testimony, other than the fear of what you would hear and a desire to make this go away putting politics over our democracy.
17
Senator Portman, the behavior displayed by your colleagues and you is another reminder why term limits are desperately needed in Congress. I propose 2 terms for Senators and 3 terms for Representatives. Until that Amendment is passed, I will continue to impose my own term limits: never voting for the incumbent. Never.
I invite other frustrated Americans to do the same.
7
Mr. Portman, I applaud you for finally planning on doing the right thing for this country. Why did you wait so long? Should we believe this last Hail Mary pass is to keep senators in office? Or, did you really decide to do the job you were voted to do?
2
It’s interesting to observe republicans explain away their acquittal votes and use the party line about the rushed nature of the House case as an excuse for acquittal. Senator Portman then goes through a laundry list of issues to attend to, as if any of them have a chance with Mitch in charge. Portman isn’t fooling anyone. The Senate is a do nothing body led by his party, where good legislation goes to die.
18
Senator Portman, so disappointing - you are so scared of Trump that you can't even advocate for a symbolic censuring of the President. If you could do that, I might begin to believe in the integrity of your argument.
As for rushing the impeachment in the House, you never addressed the issue that the White House offered no cooperation - zero - to the House committees. This level of non-cooperation never happened in prior impeachments and investigations of Presidents.
So, Senator, you are establishing either a standard for future non-cooperation and/or corrupt behavior or we will see a situation where a President is impeached and removed for some similar violation (which will prove the political nature of the your party's response). Not sure which is worse - but you haven't persuaded me that you are voting "no" in good faith. It's all about power, isn't it?
19
This piece is a perfect example of how we can rationalize anything we choose. People would rather ignore the truth than change their preconceptions, and that, Senator Portman, is exactly where you are.
26
what I want to know is - all these people announcing there was enough to vote for conviction (Romney, Jones, et;al) - if there was enough to vote for conviction for them already (which there were already 18 witnesses called in the House, a lot), then why vote for more witnesses in the Senate?
@Paul To make everything more clear to the people who weren't convinced.
1
You people in the Senate don't know the meaning of consensus. All you care about is keeping your jobs and your fear of Trump.
23
Mr. Portman, how sad that you don't respect or appreciate your constituents' respect for our democracy and the law. Your pretty sure of your legislative accomplishments, they are nothing compared to the damage your vote to acquit will have on our country. Shame, sir. And prepare to leave office, and perhaps you are confident that even if voted out it's worth preserving Republican contacts for a post-political lobbying career. Your cowardly act today shows that the whole industry of government is a shambles and cannot hope to be redeemed until it is cleared forever of criminals like you.
24
Mr Portman,
You gave Mr Trump just what he asked from you. You say, yes of course he’s corrupt, but that’s just fine. Today you tweet supporting his state of the union speech. Soon you will be chummy with him at some rally. You have endorsed him, and his corrupt, dishonest, and depraved reshaping of our country. You, sir, are no patriot! You are no friend to the America that I love. With this vote you harm my country, and the future of my family!
Why be a Senator if you can’t defend America’s most fundamental laws and values? You are really going to join Trump in claiming he’s being treated unfairly? Have you no shame??
20
I'm disgusted by this entire process.
First, I'm disgusted that a US Senator would abdicate responsibility while accusing the House of putting together a flimsy case, knowing that the White House interfered in the case. Furthermore, the argument does not hold water when you vote to not include witnesses IN A TRIAL. How can any senator make an argument about fairness or transparency when they vote for the exact opposite? The American people wanted an open trial in which we could see the facts presented. Your argument for acquittal is not based on merit when you refused to allow an argument to made. Shame on you and your co-conspirators.
Second, I am past frustrated with this newspaper being committed to presenting both sides of an argument when both sides are not balanced. I frankly don't care to see any republican senator given a platform to justify an untenable position, as if justification could be given. Each of the Republican Senators, save two, broke their oath for impartial justice when they voted to disallow witnesses. Irrespective of the eventual outcome, process matters. This newspaper cheapens itself and insults the readers by continuing to give a platform for lies, corruption, and injustice as if it is on the same playing field with constitutionality.
You, Senator Portman, are a disgrace to your office and to the history of the body of which you are a part. And you, editorial board, cheapen yourselves by giving a platform to those committed to deceit.
22
Sorry but this piece sounds so alcoholic to me-
No sense of proportion, no acknowledgement of wrongdoing and no accountability.
Clinton's lie to Congress about an inappropriate AFFAIR between adults and Trump's unlawful actions in Ukraine and his LIE about a Ukrainian conspiracy that he spread are on two different levels.
The president spread Russian propaganda and he substituted our State Dept with his personal lawyer. Then he deep-sixed it in with our military secrets. And he kept lying about it.
There will be no consensus where you sow lies. Sorry.
The solution is taking your jobs away, not trying to teach y'all that lying to America is wrong. You can learn that on your own dime.
8
I was a Republican who screamed Clinton lied. Now I am screaming at the Republicans, because no one has ever lied as much as the current President and the cowards in the Senate for supporting him.
23
This is just more of the GOP cop-out. Had a DEmocratic president committed one one-thousandth of the transgressions Trump has committed, the GOP would have impeached him/her in a heart beat! The only reasons offered for the House having what Portman calls an "unfair process" were directly caused by Trump's refusal to provide ANY cooperation or abide by trial court orders. The deep "divides" Portman mentions were primarily created by Trump and the GOP. Any logical person has to know that Trump hid the documents and witnesses because he knows it would further incriminate him. These cowardly Republicans are supporting nothing short of a traitor, as Trump admitted to attempting to prove Russian propaganda and used Congressionally appropriated funds to extort the "favor" he demanded of Zelensky. The GOP are morally bankrupt, cowardly and corrupt, like their leader. The only remedy is to throw out not only Trump, but all of the GOP senators and congressional representatives. Shame on them!!
12
Senator your pathetic excuse for voting against impeachment shows a complete lack of moral integrity, and a strong desire for power. Trump has weakened this Nation, Allies no longer trusting us, and World Leaders laughing about him on camera. Farm Bankruptcies up 20%, 26 billion farmer bailouts due to his mistakes. He is using the power of his Presidency to enhance his own empire, his sons doing business overseas, his daughter getting grants from the Saudis and patents from China. The tax breaks he created for corporations alone are making him millions. He is trying to reduce the power of congress to nothing, and you backed him, destroying our three branch system of checks and balances. You will be remembered for this right along with Benedict Arnold.
11
As I have told Sen. Portman numerous times before, in emails and phone calls to his office, he is nothing but an empty suit with "Property of the GOP" stenciled on the back.
12
Sir - you are so wrong. Trump is a dangerous man. You will not do well in future history books.
15
Welcome to obituary asterisk land. This is the decision you’ll be most remembered for. The stain of your choice to put self before country will linger long after you are gone. The case against him has been made. Even most republicans admit that. It could not be clearer—as the House Managers have warned—that Trump is amoral and dangerous. He will only get worse. Now is the time to stop him and I have no doubt that those had the chance and failed will one day regret they blew it. And know how foolish and cowardly they were.
12
How long ago was this written- could be 50 days or less?
2
This makes total sense. Illegally blocking $400M of taxpayer funds to extort dirt from a foreign country on a political rival, then telling bald-faced lies about it for months, blocking all witnesses from testifying in Congress - that clearly doesn't rise to the level of impeachable offense! Ah, but what Clinton did with Lewinsky, that is a different story. After all,he lied about *sex*! Wait? Didn't Trump tell multiple bald-faced lies about his sordid sex life as well? Yes, but that's very different. Trump passed a tax cut and tried to eviscerate protection for existing conditions. He's an American hero. Like Rush Limbaugh.
11
You, Mr. Portman, will go down in history as part of this feckless and weak cohort of Republican senators, too afraid of the truth to allow for your exonerating evidence to be presented by corroborating witnesses in a trial, and beholden more to the cynical opportunism of your party than the founding words of our Constitution. Your legacy will be that of pathetic servility to Trump, nothing more.
12
I trust that Senators like Rob Portman will keep their heads down and and raise no objection should a future Democratic president decide to take similar actions with a foreign entity.
8
Pretty sure the constitution says "treason, bribery, or OTHER high crimes and misdemeanors." And pretty sure that a violation of the Impoundment Control Act is a crime that can only be committed in high office.
These people are shameless partisan hacks and they can keep spouting their lies forever but the American people can see through the fog and we won't forget this travesty. The Republican Party is dead in the water.
9
So if asking a foreign country to dig up dirt on your opponent isn't an impeachable offense, what IS???
Ultimately, nobody has denied that Trump did this.
If it isn't "illegal", WHY??
13
"Why I’m Voting to Acquit President Trump"
You don't fool anyone Senator, you or your GOP cronies.
All actions in life have consequences, you should be meeting karma soon.
11
I don't need your fake and phony excuses, Senator. You're doing it to protect your seat and the part of your anatomy that goes there from the vicious and vociferous attacks and threats of violence you'll get from the crazy right, not to mention the relentless and endless attacks that Trump himself will load on you. And McConnell may WELL cut earmarks to Ohio, and move you to less desired committees--because he's just as vindictive but much sneakier than Trump.
You're doing it because you fear the President, you value your own seat and your party more than you value your oath to the Constitution, your oath to do impartial justice, and the protection of our liberal democratic republic. And because you're a hypocrite who voted to convict Clinton for lying about an immaterial consensual sexual affair.
That's the bottom line. Save your excuses for the gullible.
11
Hey Senator! Weak and boring read. You’ll be up against the wall with the rest of them when it all falls apart. Don’t worry. Senators from Alaska and Maine will be there too.
6
I do not understand how you sleep at night, supporting and encouraging this so-called president's disgusting, amoral, evil behavior. You, McConnell, Graham, Paul, Cruz, Paul Ryan, Murkowski are the human definition of cowardice and hypocrisy. Please resign...before you're voted out.
8
How is “I want you to do us a favor though...” and withholding millions of dollars in military aid not bribery? 2 2=5?
3
Senator:
I looked at one of your television interviews from the Fall to check on your statment that you've consistently taken the position that Mr. Trump's behavior was wrong. Anyone interested can look at this interview you had on FOX news and can make their own judgement on your veracity.
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6089539789001#sp=show-clips
6
What about your Oath of Office? Does it mean nothing?
5
Julius Cesar would've walked all over this Senate.
3
Apparently there is no amount of proven obstruction, law breaking and lying that can be used as grounds to remove a president. Senator Portman and his party ignore the overwhelming public call for witneses and documents and treat the American public as idiots because they do not fear our reaction to their obvious dereliction of duty. Sadly, they have every right to believe there will be no political cost. As for the cost to our republic, it's clear they just don't care.
6
I have nothing to add to all these comments. I'm just here to humbly register my disgust.
9
The Senate has a constitutional duty and you have all failed miserably. To attempt to say what the president did does not reach the level of an impeachable act is laughable. What the president did is exactly what our forefathers attempted to avoid. So much for your comprehension of the Constitution let alone your obligation as a member of the Senate.
7
You have voted to destroy the Constitution. You put party before country, and Trump before democracy.
Shame on you forever.
8
Sorry Senator Portman, your lies won't work with most of the country. I understand that you are in a tough predicament but your only honest option was to vote against your party and the President who currently has a stranglehold on it. You can give all of the justifications that you want but the truth is that Donald Trump attempted to use tax dollars to buy a phony investigation into his legal actions in the Ukraine. I used to consider you to be an honorable man; it's too bad that you sold your soul.
1
Portman, you sat by while your Senate leader concocted a rigged trial with zero witnesses. You should be ashamed for making the craven calculation that people would forget before your next election. But that will not happen. Forever, your name is tied to this disgrace. It will appear on your obituary: "Portman was silent and allowed the Senate to hold a trial without witnesses. He was a traitor to the Constitution and lost his next election."
3
Dear GOP Senator(s):
Consider this as you head back home to meet with constituents.
The greatest political threat to the President is the not Impeachment, but the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) which will in 2 to 6 months cause a global recession and result in a raging pandemic in the USA with possibly 30 to 90 million infections. Up to 20 % of those will require ICU/CCU inpatient confinements (and there are not enough hospital beds in all America to treat these cases). If the mortality rate runs between 2% to 3% for those infected, then we are speaking about possibly 2 to 3 million dead if 30$ of the 323 million Americans get infected.
No incumbent President can survive such a disaster in this day and age. He is claiming all is wonderful but he is obviously clueless in regard to the dark future which is fast approaching. Your vote to acquit merely delays the inevitable failure of this presidency
1
Time to clean house in The Senate and The White House.
3
Senator Portman, you many not be up for re-election till 2022, which explains your “brave” stance on the dereliction if your duties. Don’t be fooled though that your shameless “opinion” piece here will fuel donations and activism toward putting many of your similarly spineless colleagues out of office, and you yourself may think about retiring before 2022 rather than facing the wrath of those of us who still use our brains. We will not forget!
2
I don't buy this flawed argument and attempt at redirection. Portman totally ignores the unprecedented obstruction by the White House and the Republican Senators' refusal to hear from witnesses. It's pretty clear that they are too afraid of the truth and that too many powerful people are involved in this corruption and the cover up.
It's very disturbing that the Republicans don't seem genuinely interested in protecting fair elections because they don't view it to be in their personal interest.
Maybe I was naive, but I used to think that most American politicians believed in truth and justice for all.
What a horrible example for our youth and such a blow to our position in the world.
3
Oh, so you're running in 2024 then?
Dear Mr. Portman, it's time to go and collect your 'lifetime' membership card of 45*s golf club in Florida!
Enjoy yourself but please remember to let 45* win at golf so that he can claim to be the very biglist best that ever walked the surface of the earth!
3
Again, I'm urging everyone to go back and look at Portman's direct involvement with the bipartisan committee in 2016 to legitimately investigate Ukrainian corruption. He knows full well how Biden was acting openly in accordance with US and international policy and that the Trump and his "surrogate action squad" was just digging for political dirt and covering it up. That makes him doubly complicit because he knew the truth first hand, then ignored it to kiss the Trumpal ring. Throw this guy and all the best of the bums out of there at first opportunity!
6
Senator Portman is narrowly defining impeachment and removal based on his own self-interest and that of his party. No doubt he would feel differently if Trump had "D" after his name. Mr. By-The-Book would cite chapter and verse on how all of the facts added up. But hey, we're in the era of live-in-your-own-reality and this passes as statesmanship nowadays. There should be a word for this kind of behavior: Sassey.
I grew up in ohio and left in the 80s to get a good job. with so-called leadership like Portnan no wonder the state of Ohio is an economic and opioid epidemic wasteland. Portman's Emporer Trump has done nothing to help states like Ohio and others.
3
If you have any relatives who fought or died in the Revoloutionary War, I'm sure they'll approve of your giving Trump the powers of a King.
And blaming the Democrats for things not getting done in Mitch McConnell's Senate is a bad joke, Rob.
4
I write as a constituent, and your reasoning makes no sense, Senator. Republicans would allow no witnesses, disregarded the House testimony of respected diplomatic and military service people. Saying there was no evidence is like saying there is no moon because you refuse to look up at the night sky.
You and other members of the GOP enable a cheating, lying demagogue, who, like yourself, will justify any violation of norms or law so long as you can cling to power.
2022, Portman. Tick-tock.
5
Q. How do you know a Republican is talking?
A. Their talk consists of half-truths, misleading statements, glaring omissions, false equivalencies and equivocations.
4
Mr. Portman - shame on you.
4
FYI Rob Portman: what unites us is the Constitution and the rule of law. Either you don't understand that, or--more precisely-- you are willfully ignoring it and your sworn oath to protect and preserve the Constitution. That, Mr Portman, is treason.
1
Excellent!! Finally, an American writes in the pages of the NYT.
I would like to thank all the people from Ohio who have shared their thoughts here. This is proof that the GOP, today, does not represent these good people. Instead of thinking Red State/Blue State it is clear we have purple states, and reasonable people have opinions that vary by a small degree, but that their morals are shared. What has happened in the Senate is counter to the morals of most Americans, and our voices will be heard.
3
Aid to Ukraine was determined by Congress to be in the nation's interest. Trump withheld that same aid for personal gain and contrary to the nation's interest. How is that not treason?
Impeachment won't end in the Senate. He's impeached, forever more, in every American history yet to be written. What you're doing is voting to acquit, despite the evidence. Can not one single Republican tell the truth?
1
Mr Portman is called many names. I am surprised nobody has called him a hypocrite yet. I apologise if I missed it.
A dismissal of the removal of Mr Trump today will set the US back about 500 yrs , when Machiavelli lived.
2
Clearly, Rob Portman wrote this drivel before the State of the Union. There is nothing Portman states as a prerequisite for partisanship that was evidenced in that address. It was appalling. Trump is the child you can dress up but just can't take anywhere. The dignity of the presidency is beyond his reach and extends well above his grasp.
1
The danger produced by a vote to acquit on the charges of impeachment is profound. We all know he will not change and will continue to abuse his office for personal gain. But the biggest threat to the country and the constitution occurs after he is voted out of office. That 2 month period between the election and the inauguration will unleash a wild man in the office who could do anything. Will the Senate vote to hold him in check? Maybe, but many options remain open for a vile, vindictive, narcissistic, unprincipled President. The only safe way to stop him is to remove him immediately. You have to know this. History will not be kind to you for your vote.
4
what consensus? were you at the State of the Union last night? I've never seen nor heard such 'in your face' standing ovations as the Republicans gave last night.
you were standing and cheering, right?
Is this the way you work consensus?
4
Up next: "Why This Ohio Voter Did Not, and Will Not, Vote for Portman"
7
President Trump has demonstrated in a multitude of ways, not just via the articles of impeachment that he is manifestly unfit for office and wholly undeserving of the trust a minority of Americans placed in him when he was elected. A political party that actually retained a shred of moral authority would have turned him out long ago. The Republican party, Senator Portman included, have demonstrated themselves to be craven, hypocritical opportunists willing to put narrow self-interest before our nation's common good. Shame on you Mr. Portman. I for one will not forget your actions in this impeachment trial.
3
Former Ohio resident here - you should be utterly ashamed, Rob Portman. A seven paragraph summation that excludes any context or understanding for why the House would move through impeachment hearings quickly and then attempting to distract readers with your position on irrelevant policy areas is utterly shameless. The only dangerous precedent set here was by your own party and their decision to not hold a "president" accountable for breaking the law and not cooperating with the same legislative processes that hold your constituents accountable. You will be less influential as a follower than as a leader. Good luck.
4
You have abdicated your responsibility to provide a check and balance against the malfeasance of the executive branch. Because of your craven partisanship, the constitution is in tatters. We are now a nation of men, not of laws.
No phony list of half-baked accomplishments can justify this.
There are dozens of other people in your party who could fill this role. Removing this one would not be the end of your policy aspirations.
I am trying to imagine how you would vote if Barack Obama had:
1. suborned foreign interference in an upcoming election;
2. conspired to hide the evidence of this in a top secret computer server;
3. obstructed congress by prohibiting witnesses to the above from testifying.
Let it suffice to say that you don't come off very well in my imagination.
3
To destroy the promise of this once great nation to the corruption a one-time reality teevee star with a string of business failures and criminal associates is the saddest part because Trump truly isn’t worth anything.
5
So, Senator Portman, Clinton's lying abut extramarital sex rises to the level of an impeachable offense for you, but Trump's leveraging hundreds of millions of taxpayers' dollars and the full faith and credit of the United States to force a foreign government to interfere with our presidential election doesn't rise to that same level? This is hypocrisy pure and simple. You can make up all the excuses you want to support your partisan conclusions. None of them come close to passing my smell test. You and your republican colleagues have abandoned this nation at a critical time and we will not forget.
4
Republicans who have concluded that Trump was wrong in his actions should censure him. Do your job.
2
Mr. Portman,
Please don't insult us with your pseudo and ad hoc rationalizations. The only reason why you will acquit the President is because the Republican base adores him, and you will lose your job if you turn against him. This is about power, not about justice. To pretend otherwise is laughable, and it makes me sick. Ask yourself: "Would I have acquitted Obama if he had done what Trump did?" We all know the answer to this question.
2
The GOP's descent into a party of lies, alternative facts, and bigotry continues to boggle the mind. If trying to rig an election isn't grounds for impeachment, what is? Sen. Portmans op-ed is just another example of their duplicity and hypocrisy. Plain and Simple.
2
It's interesting how the pseudo-moderates have taken a position of saying, it was horrible, but not impeachable, we're done, as if that was the only option. What about a censure vote? Surely attempting to conspire with a foreign leader to manipulate an election should merit formal disapproval from people who make their livings by getting elected??
It's never been more apparent how frightened most GOP officeholders are in the thrall of this bully.
2
"The founders intended for impeachment to be extremely rare,"
Portman starts his argument in the defense of President Trump with this nonsense. The only reason the founders hoped impeachment would be rare is that they envisioned voters wouldn't put scoundrels in office very often. It has nothing to do with the actual criteria for impeachment.
3
It’s so easy to call an arraignment partisan, by simply gathering one’s own tribe into lockstep march, and then accuse the others of partisanship.
What a disgrace to the honor of our country and of my home state.
2
"In addition, the House engaged in a rushed process that lacked fundamental fairness. The constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley calls it “the shortest proceeding, with the thinnest evidentiary record, and the narrowest grounds ever used to impeach a president.” It was also the only purely partisan impeachment in history."
Yes, Jonathan Turley said that and plenty of constitutional scholars said otherwise. You've chosen to privilege the opinion that comports with your own. What a shock. Likewise with the observation that the impeachment was partisan. It's only partisan in the sense that Republicans in the house are either afraid of or in thrall to the president. What does it tell us? Nothing. There are plenty of Republicans, former Republicans, never-Trumpers and Independents who think the president should have been impeached and removed. I write Portman all the time and this is the same sloppy nonsense he always responds with. All this tells us is that Rob Portman figured out a way to get to sleep at night. Good for him.
4
Consensus issues, Mr. Portman? You and your party have lost all credibility on that front. Peddling consensus building and protection of the public is a proven non starter coming from today's Republicans. That idea is a false cloak you wrap yourself in to soothe yourself and relieve your conscious from the truth. That truth being this President has demonstrated, beyond all reasonable doubt, impeachable offenses the likes of which damage our country and our democracy. You, sir, are no defender of the United States Constitution.
3
I'm a public policy professional, a pragmatist, and a moderate. A big portion of my job is working constructively in a bipartisan manner. I take great pride in voting for the candidate rather than the party, and while I usually choose the Democrat, I've cast votes for a number of Republicans in the last couple decades.
Not any more.
You can argue about whether Trump is the cause or a symptom. But his malignant narcissism, self-serving nature, corruption, utter lack of ethics and moral compass -- and most importantly, the total failure of his party to do anything to reign him in -- is infecting our democracy. If you say you want to turn the tide of this partisanship, you need an ethical compass. Right now all I see is sidling up to power.
I will never vote for any Republican in this generation. Nobody who stood by and let this president corrupt our country will ever get a vote from me.
You don't get to talk about ethics and morals any more. You've shown it's just talk as you lick the boots of the most corrupt and self-serving president this country has ever seen. For shame.
6
Rob, the impeachment process would not have seemed "rushed" had the Obstructionist-in-Chief and his cronies allowed witnesses and admission of documentary evidence. Your gang have weakened the Constitution and threaten us all.
2
The senate traial is sham trial. It has no witnesses and no documents. Sen Portman, supposrted a sham trial presided by the Chief Justics, while at the same time accusing democrats to have rushed the impeachment. what a hypocracy?
1
Facts Matter, Memories are long, History will be clear as information will not be buried forever.
GOP Senators have failed the country and undermined US National Security. Future generations will carry the Trump burdens for a very long time.
Senator Portman, you have failed and have made a disgrace of the Republican Party. You own your cowardice and failure of office.
4
Certainly was thin on evidence, like witnesses and W.H. documents. These cynical Republicans just love having it both ways.
5
Here's what Congressman Rob Portman said in 1998:
"I am also concerned because the President - by the very nature of his office - has a special responsibility to set an example. At a minimum, there cannot be one standard for the President and another for the citizens he serves. ... We are a nation of laws and, as a Member of Congress, I have a sworn duty to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law. I must vote to impeach"
What a hypocrite.
3
He's complaining about the "thinnest evidentiary record"?
The evidentiary record was thinner than it should have been because Trump obstructed Congress. It was Article 2, remember? Or, you could argue that a crooked head of DOJ refused to conduct a proper investigation.
Even so, the GAO found he violated the law.
Mr. Portman has a lot of nerve to publish poorly reasoned nonsense like this. Looks to me like he's putting his own seat ahead of the interests of the American people.
2
I am an independent minded voter. I paid attention, watched the hearings in the house, the debates in the Senate, read the investigative reporting in multiple newspapers. It's clear to me what has taken place here. I now place zero weight on any statement or article coming from any Republican, House, Senate, Whitehouse, the DOJ, etc. They are a disgrace to the country, the lot of them.
3
If Republicans are so afraid of trump, get rid of him and impeach.
1
Senator Portman should be ashamed. The president admits he used congressionally appropriated money to extort a foreign government to launch an investigation into a domestic political rival. Can you imagine how Republicans would have responded if Obama had done that!
Mitch McConnell doesn’t want consensus on anything. Senator Portman claims to care about energy issues. Will Republicans now lead us on the consensus issue of addressing climate change? Let me repeat, Senator Portman should be ashamed of himself and his party.
3
Portman is no longer content to be merely mendacious, immoral, a friend of corruption, an enemy of democracy.
3
Count me as another Ohio voter who is disgusted with the GOP and their President. If only we could trade Portman for another Sherrod Brown....
1
Shame on you and your Republican colleagues, Senator Portman. The short-term pain you would have suffered for a moment of integrity pales in comparison to the long-term ignominy to which you and the Republican Trumpists will be bound for the rest of History. Read: "Why I am Voting to Replace Senator Portman."
3
The senator leaves out all the points that undermine his arguments. So be it, that is his right, this is his defense, but to accept the president's actions as simply "improper" rather than disgraceful and wholly beneath the office of the presidency is hard to bear. He must realize that to excuse such behavior is to enable it, and in enabling it, to become complicite in it.
So, if the point of the editorial was to avoid the shame engendered by your vote to acquit, I submit to you senator, you have failed miserably.
3
Senator Portman,
Truth matters. Times like these require you to speak truth to power rather than close your eyes and ears and pretend the mendacity and iniquitous acts don't exist .
As a constituent, I expect my elected representatives to represent our interests, to defend the Constitution, and to honor your oaths.
Instead, you shrink from this courageous duty and put politics and party ahead of justice.
Yours is a profile in cowardice.
3
I'm sorry Sen. Portman your argument is deeply flawed. In order to retain power and protect your very generous tax breaks, you and your fellow Republicans are choosing to turn a blind eye to Trump's attempt to enlist the aid of a foreign country in obtaining information to corrupt a Presidential election. For that and so many other reasons, you and your party are a danger to our democracy.
2
Leader of the Free World? The United States citizens are deluding themselves when they claim that their president and the country itself is the Leader of the Free World.
As a citizen of Australia, I regard myself as a citizen of the Free World.
To me, a "Leader" has followers that believe in and support the actions, deeds and words of the Leader. I cannot support an individual nor country that are amoral.
I do not believe that a President (or equivalent), should lie to his/her citizens with such frequency. I do not support such an individual that awards the country's highest civilian honour to a person who promotes sexism. I do not support a country where the most senior legislative body refuses to hear evidence of a crime.
I could continue but suffice to say, please cease claiming that your President and country are our Leader. You embarrass yourselves.
1
Bipartisan cooperation. A laudable goal! Doesn't that take a trustworthy partner instead of a criminal and a traitor?
Not talking about you, Senator. But you're all tangled up with him by now, and to be trusted again you have to show just an iota of independence in your votes.
1
The transparent ridiculousness of the rationales Portman and others are offering for acquittal is depressing. More than anything, it tells how completely the GOP has been captured by Trump and turned into a cult of personality. They are acquitting him, not because they are cynical about what they can get by keeping him in office, or fearful of what he might do to them if they opposed him. They are acquitting him because they love and worship him. That is the only explanation for nonsense such as Portman offers here.
1
Portman is tying himself in knots to justify his dereliction of duty. Senator, we can all see behind the curtain and we despise you and your colleagues for YOUR blatant partisanship.
2
I'm tired of being outraged. I'm tired of holding out hope for there being adults in the room. The Teflon Don isn't worth the space he occupies in my brain nor is the GOP. I can't stomach his never-ending headline generation and all the lies and deflection. I'm just going to help vote him out in November.
3
No, Rob, that's not why you're voting to acquit President Trump. There are always "feeling reasons" behind a person's cognitive analytics, and the primary feelings saturating the cultural ether during this administration are cowardice and obsequiousness on one side, anger and righteous indignation on the other.
2
Senator Portman: with your moral cowardice in acquitting the President, you and the rest of the GOP Senators have debased yourselves and the Senate as an institution. Your argument that the impeachment process was partisan is correct - partisan due to the outrageous behavior of the GOP House caucus that disingenuously defended the President's lawless behavior and GOP Senators who are covering up the President's misdeeds. And as far as getting anything done in the Senate, your words here need to be directed to Mitch McConnell, who has bottled up everything except conservative judicial nominations. Shame on you. Shame on the GOP.
2
"We Republicans put our blinders on and refuse to hear any testimony and will not consider any of the evidence submitted by the House managers, therefore this impeachment is partisan." Shame on you and your colleagues, Senator. This is only "partisan" because members of your party have chosen to blatantly violate your oath of impartiality.
3
Extortion is not a crime?
Somebody better take that word out of those old crime and lawyer shows where the charges are always "bribery, extortion, racketeering".
Elliott Ness is rolling over in his grave.
2
Sorry Mr. Portman I have lost all respect for you and your fellow GOP Senators. Shame on all of you!
3
Mr Portman, what unites us is the reaffirmation of the rule of law.
It’s absurd to take your stance of ‘uniting the country’ when you refuse to uphold your oath of office. We have a plainly criminal President. You know it and we know it. Not enough evidence does not equal refusal to see more evidence. Most of you have law degrees so you know that argument is ridiculous.
This is a scam.
And your rationale for doing nothing is that it willl tear us apart? All due respect sir, but you need to find a new line of work because you are clearly not up to the current challenge.
2
A decent career ruined, in the unfailing eyes of history. Ruined.
2
Senator Portman,
Is it not shameful enough to consciously acquit a president that has and continue lying (as proven last night at the State of the Union)?
Do you even have the shame to write an editorial justifying it? Have you lost any moral compass? I could write that this is a dark time for our country but I'm afraid not to write the darkest for I am afraid that this state of affairs may continue for much longer than most of us desire. You make it possible together with a party that has given carte blanche to a disgraceful president.
1
I am not a constituent of Mr. Portman's. Judging from the comments it appears that Mr. Portman's constituents no longer care to have him as their representative. Thus we see that actions do have consequences, and cowardice clothed in arrogance cannot pass for morality. I'm sure that Mr. Portman imagined that his explanation was more than sufficient. It isn't.
3
Where are this guy's moral anchors? Did his cognitive reasoning just vanish. Yes, the Congressional case was thin. Did he forget Trump forbade documents and witnesses? In spite of that, the House delivered abundant facts, which Portman says he accepts, to validate Trumps behavior. Portman's pathetic masquerade as a moderate enlightened legislator is revealed for what it is, he's interested in re-election and knows if he votes against the Donald he'll end his political career.
3
Right. As if there was anything "bipartisan" in ANYTHING the current Senate even dreams about; never mind actually tries to do. Save it, Rob.
2
Mr Portman,
You know you aren’t doing the right thing.
We know you aren’t doing the right thing.
You are going to betray the oaths you took at the beginning of this trial, and as a Senator. You know that and so do we.
Nothing you say changes the stark reality of your intention to betray your country. In the end, this is what you live with. This is the legacy you leave your children.
3
"The founders intended for impeachment to be extremely rare, and they required those seeking to remove the president to meet the burden of proving 'high crimes and misdemeanors,' like treason or bribery. In this case, unlike in other impeachments, no crime was alleged." Apparently you are unfamiliar with English vernacular definitions of bribery. Conditioning one's offer of support on fulfillment of a request to "do us a favor, though," renders that support a BRIBE. You cannot acknowledge that this request was improper, and assert that no crime - and "Abuse of Power" covers a world of criminality, pace Mr. Dershowitz- was committed. Your cowardice will now go down in posterity.
1
Mr. Portman you cannot possibly believe that impeachment was necessary for President Clinton over lying about an private, consensual sexual encounter but somehow not for Mr Trump who bribed the president of a foreign county for his own political ends and withheld aid that was mandated by congress. Yes, I do hope the Senate will now take up bipartisan issues but I also hope that Americans will remember on election day that gutless senate republicans could not even bring themselves to censure this behavior and vote all of you out of office.
3
Treason and bribery. Look up the definition of bribery, it will perfectly describe Trump's actions toward the Ukraine.
1
Nice try at deflection, but there's no getting around the plain, pure fact that Portman and his feckless, craven cronies have put Trump and party above country.
The republicans have sold out.
2
You're right about only one thing - it was purely partisan. Because you and every member of your party abdicated your duty to uphold the law. You'll be forever tied to this con man for better or worse. Here's hoping it ruins you.
1
Even a schoolkid who cheats on an exam and gets caught gets some punishment.
1
We used to be united as a country - against monarchs and dictators.
3
How amusing. Here is why this call for working together is the height of hypocrisy. Mitch McConnell. Merrick Garland.
1
* Impeachment Article 1: Abuse of Power
"...calls it 'the shortest proceeding, with the thinnest evidentiary record, and the narrowest grounds ever used to impeach a president'"
* Impeachment Article 2: Obstruction of Congress
1
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
3
Having been a political flack before I sought forgiveness and found honest work, I have to tell you that the "it's time to move on to issues ..... blah blah blah" template hasn't been included in the Flack Handbook since early in the Truman administration.
Some people in recent years have tried "time to return to the people's business."
Others trying to shirk their responsibility have tried "after (fill in any number) months wasting time on (fill in the substantive issue the pol is trying to avoid), the time has come to get back to (fill in any other issue that the pol thinks will distract the electorate."
Senator: Can't you simply man up and admit your cowardice?
2
I read your opinion piece of February 5, 2020 with interest because I was hoping to read something new. Something that would help me understand how one could find the President guilty and yet acquit him. I did not find that. I found and excuse that makes the least sense of them all: “It is time to take up consensus issues”.
You are supporting a president that does not respect institutions, the rule of law, or people with experience and knowledge on the issues. You are supporting a president that derides military heroes, the developmentally challenged, and has childish nicknames for almost everyone else. You are supporting a president that has no interest in consensus, no interest whatsoever in other opinions.
So your excuse for supporting this president for his abuse of power doesn’t ring true. Abuse of power doesn’t come with consensus nor does consensus follow abuse of power. You will find there will be no consensus issues because your president is not interested in them. But we can rest assured that he will blame someone else for that.
1
This is a sad day for Ohio. You have not represented the citizens of that great state. You have joined the 'cult of Trump' and will be remembered as a tool that helped destroy democracy in this country. Sad.
2
You've written an Op-ed piece attempting to justify your vote acquitting a man who just gave the Medal of Freedom to Rush Limbaugh.
I hope I am alive when all the scathing documentaries come out.
I hope you are too, sir.
4
Mr. Portman, you need to review your oath of office.
1
Because you believe in party over constitution and country.
America cannot exist if you don’t honor your oath of office.
2
Senator Portman,
No need to legitimize how you view the misconduct of Mr. Trump in his dealings with the Ukraine. First, you see it as improper and then you say that you don't think that it has reached that level of impropriety.
So, let's suppose that the United States was not in the position that it is…let's suppose that Italy was the economic and military power house. And say that they were at odds with Canada…and Canada was doing all sorts of mischief. How would you feel if Italians were to withhold whatever amount of money that they had designated to us until we went and did some 'favour' for them to hurt Trudeau? Now, it is hard for you to imagine that because you would never think that America would be in that position; what you lack is called diplomacy…and perhaps, you don't understand your responsibility of checks and balances as a Senator.
And the icing on the cake for all Ukrainian-Americans is that Pompeo had the audacity to say that no one in America cares about the Ukraine…
This Administration and all who wash their hands of responsibility are shameless.
I think you should work bi-partisanly with Senator Sherrod Brown whose guest for the State of the Union address was Dave Green—a gentleman who was evidence that the promises that he made to the auto workers in Mahoney County were lies…talk to your constituents, Senator Portman.
3
every republican should be voted out of office. start with mitch.
2
June 2019 - Biden leads Iowa polling, 19 point lead nationally
...Perfect Phone Call...
Feb 2020 - Biden likely 4th in Iowa, a 5 point lead nationally and Bloomberg in the race.
This trial was about unfairly influencing the 2020 election for personal advantage...right?
1
Ohioan here. What Senator Portman fails to tell the readers, he was directly involved in the cover up and should have been recused as a “juror”.
On May 31, 2019 Senator Portman was in Ukraine and had a meeting with President Zelenskyy. He then returned to the Senate Chamber and on June 5 made a speech linking further aid to Ukraine to investigations of corruption. As the info drops from FOIA requests he is also listed as participating in a May 20 energy meeting in Ukraine with Rick Perry, Gordon Sondland, Ron Johnson and others.
On September 12 he proudly boasted on Twitter that HE had gotten POTUS to release the aid to Ukraine. And abetted Trump’s now debunked claim that EU countries don’t contribute enough.
Further, Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch paid him a visit on Jan 15, 2019. We now know that Giuliani and his goons had been pressing for her removal since 2018.
The reason we know all this...is Senator Portman’s twitter feed. He obsessively posts pics and photo ops in lieu of real policy issues.
We here in Ohio have long known that Senator Portman is no moderate and is not really interested in “the people’s work”. He was elected by what he called an “uninformed electorate”. He serves himself and for whatever reason this POTUS only. He has never ever acknowledged all the House Bills that Mitch is sitting on in the Senate. Portman’s definition of “bipartisan” is MY legislation. By which he means bills that further his donors interests.
5
Mr. Portman, You and your Republican Senate cohorts do not deserve reelection, and if there is any justice in the foreseeable future of the Republic, you will All be defeated. A huge grass roots civilian movement should assure such. The impeachment case against this amoral, racist, pathologically narcissistc President has been amply proven. Your rationale for sweeping his crimes under the rug, while urging helpful bipartisanship is not specious; it is vomitive.
2
What about contempt of Congress?
1
Gee, I wonder how the GOP will feel when foreign countries assist the Democrats to help them find dirt on the GOP. Not that there could possibly be any corrupt Republicans.
You had all better hope to whatever God you pray to that you never lose the majority. The sickening display of willful disregard to due process and the crimes of this president are being watched . If the dems take control of the senate as well, you can bet the next impeachment will be as swift and witness free as this current acquittal.
Without evidence and without witnesses, there was no trial. Without a trial, there is no acquittal. The only thing you have done, sir, is abdicate your constitutional duty and your oath of office.
1
You are going to have to work hard to restore faith. I have none in almost all of you. Top to bottom.
1
And here's why Op-Eds like this one by Portman, and any other forms of defense or deflection of what Trump did, is nothing more than short-sighted nonsense: Trump will do it again. Then what? Goal posts will move yet again for this guy. Repeat.
1
“In this case, unlike in other impeachments, no crime was alleged.” Bribery is a crime, Mr. Portman and a quid pro quo by any other name is bribery.
“In addition, the House engaged in a rushed process that lacked fundamental fairness.” In fifth grade, the schoolyard rules of fairness were that when choosing teams, each side got a chance to pick. In this case, only the republicans got a chance to pick – picked who would testify: no one, picked which documents would be released:none.
“Jonathan Turley calls it “the shortest proceeding, with the thinnest evidentiary record, and the narrowest grounds ever used to impeach a president.” The evidentiary record, as he calls it, is available, but was not allowed to be made public, by the republicans, who were more interested in making the name of the protected “whistle blower” public and which, defying the law, they did indeed do – the law is for other people now.
“It was also the only purely partisan impeachment in history.” Mr. Portman, where you during the last two impeachment hearings?
“Rushing an impeachment case through the House… would serve only to further deepen the divides that seem to permeate every part of our society today.” Mr. Portman, this is where you had me cross you off as either totally self-interested, delusional, or both. The deep divisions of this nation are direct result of the process begun by the republican party’s “southern strategy” and engaged in by almost every republican office seeker since.
1
It will be the senators' children and grandchildren who will remember! They will know that when the time came to stand and be counted on truth, ethics and lawfulness, instead spinelessness prevailed as half of the Senate decided that the future of American democracy was a cheap price to pay for their reelection. You will be so remembered Mr. Portman. As you cast your vote for acquittal please have the simple decency to hang your head in shame.
3
Nice try, Senator. I think most people would simply prefer the truth: You are afraid of Trump backlash so you will ignore a clearly impeachable offense.
3
To his credit, Senator Portman was among the first to notice President Trump’s withholding vital support for Ukraine.
Since then, however, Senator Portman and his Republican colleagues ignored not only President Trump’s corrupt acts but, perhaps even worse, President Trump’s stonewalling to cover them up.
Even as they complain that the House impeachment sets a “dangerous precedent,” Republicans ignore the precedent that themselves create.
The Republican’s “high bar” is not related to requisite evidence. If Republicans cared about the facts then they would call live witnesses. Instead, their “high bar” justifies their foregone conclusion: President Trump’s trading national security for personal political favor is “inappropriate” and even “shameful” but still acceptable. Obviously, acceptable means replicable.
Republicans ignore trials’ role both to develop a factual record and trials’ their role to review the process’ legal adequacy. Republicans complain that the House proceedings “lacked due process.” Yet they fail to assess President Trump’s key obstruction-related defense: the House’s subpoena were legally invalid and therefore were properly ignored.
As a result, Republicans create these dangerous precedents: concocting a so-called “high bar” precedent authorizing President Trump’s trading international security for personally favorable political benefit while fully barring legal analysis of President Trumps’ hiding behind the stonewall.
1
Total rationalization, Senator Portman. You are a man without courage. I am very glad that the NYTimes published your piece because we need a record of those who, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, "failed to arise to the occasion."
4
Mr. Portman votes to acquit because he doesn't have Romney's courage and his moral compass. And of course, he doesn't seem to care about right and wrong and the consequences of his choice for United States.
5
Your main points are directly conflicting with each other. You acknowledge that Trump did what he was accused of -- "Mr. Trump's request for an investigation of Joe Biden and any effort to tie the release of military aid to investigations were improper and shouldn't have happened -- but then accuse the Democrats of engaging in a "rushed process" that "lacked fundamental fairness". How could it lack fundamental fairness if you accept the ultimate claims alleged? And how do you claim unfairness when the White House, in a first, refused to produce any witnesses or documentary evidence? It is Republicans who have engaged in a sham process to support their demagogue unquestioningly. If using the power of the presidency to pursue one's own interests at the expense of an ally threatened by an authoritarian regime isn't impeachable, then nothing is.
5
With all due respect to Republican Senator Portman, while I do not agree with your assessment nor that of your Republican Senators regarding the justification and reasoning to not impeachment the president, I do applaud you on the three topics listed which need addressing.
I only wish that the Republicans could see, understand and realize how crucial and critical global warming is and how climate change is happening NOW with devastating and deadly results.
Frankly, I thought this issue is equally alarming as those of lowering prescription drugs, improving skills training, and combating the addiction crisis.
A sincere thank you for taking the time to write this article.
1
@Marge Keller and Sen. Portman;
Too bad you both neglected to include the Equal Rights Amendment in the top 3 or 4 areas of consensus begging for bipartisan action.
Mr. Portman said, “It’s time to take up consensus issues,” but apparently protecting and defending the U.S. Constitution and the
extension of unassailably equal rights for women and girls that no “originalist” can claim were not intended are not so important to him, That’s really too bad, and reason enough to remember to vote for someone else when his term us up.
If we’re wrong on this, and he DOES believe in the importance of true and clear equal rights for our daughters, sisters, mothers, aunts, spouses, and friends and colleagues, then let him say so in these NYT pages and from the podium on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
Yours truly,
The Future
1
The Senate failed its duty. Instead of an impeachment trial, we had a partisan cover-up.
Trump is guilty of abuse of power. This is the general case, the underlying sin if you will, of bribery and other high crimes. A judge is free to decide matters of guilt or innocence. However, it is an abuse of that power for a judge to find innocent contingent on the accused doing a favor for the judge, or to find guilt because a favor wasn't done.
Trump used his power as Commander-in-Chief of the military to attempt to extort a foreign nation to interfere in our election. This is a crime that only a president can commit. Not only did Trump undermine the safety of the United States by emboldening Russia, but Trump endangered the lives and freedom of 42 million Ukrainians in an attempt to smear a political opponent.
If this high crime does not rise to the level of removal from office, nothing does.
4
Senator Portman declares that Congress needs to re-instill faith in our institutions. Won't that be a wee bit difficult when for the past three years the President of the United States has been denigrating and disrespecting those very institutions which he supposedly governs?
8
In terms of your vote, nice appeal to your base, Senator Portman. They will probably appreciate what you write here, mainly because you didn’t say anything.
Now on the separate points you bring up, as a Democrat I appreciate your going there. Game on! Democrats are more than ready to debate the points you list. We have a long record of accomplishments on these issues.
8
If the parties were reversed, Democrat President with Republican Congress, the Senator would be making the exact opposite argument as he did in the Clinton impeachment.
I believe Trump has been properly Impeached but I agree the crime is not egregious enough to warrant removal. The Senate should acquit then quickly move to censure the President's actions for which he was impeached.
3
Rob Portman wants Americans to see him as a wise man who is able to see "The Big Picture" and wants Americans to discuss public policy. Rob Portman completely misses that the "The Big Picture" is the structure of our democracy and not a specific policy. It's the rule of law, equal justice under the law, adhering to the constitution and believing in facts. It is not betraying the public good for personal gain. However, by supporting this president, "The Big Picture" for Rob Portman is that he is now a coconspirator.
18
Mizaru, Kikazaru and Iwazaru would be proud of you, Senator.
See no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil.
In other words, turning a blind eye to the lies and the corruption of the President and his administration.
History ( quite rightly) will not be kind to you.
20
Does this senator think we are stupid? His chamber has done NOTHING but thwart the will of the American public for years.
Republicans’ only major legislative accomplishment since 2016 has been a wildly unpopular tax bill that Americans accurately perceive as open plundering by the ultra-rich. Now Rob Portman has the audacity to lecture us about the importance of prescription drug reform? Apparently he thinks we’ve forgotten that Republicans’ other signature legislative effort, an attempt to steal health care benefits from 25 million people, was (mercifully) thwarted by a single vote in the Senate.
It’s frankly insulting for the New York Times to publish propaganda from a Trump Republican as if it’s meant in good faith. There is no good faith left from these crooks — just cowardice and manipulation. Greatest deliberative body in the world, ugh — please!
28
I think Rob Portman should be ashamed of himself!
2022 is too far away. He needs to be impeached and ousted before then!
13
It's shameful how the trump sycophants like Portman, Collins, and Murkowski are using false claims and pretzel logic to soothe their consciences and trying in vain to keep up the false veneer that they are "moderates". That veneer is as fake & transparent as trump's orange "tan".
15
I was just floored Collins thought Trump would learn something from this. The only thing he is going to learn is that he can get away with anything.
If Molly Ivins were still here, she would give us the right words for people like Portman. Her Texas scoundrels are angels compared to the mendacious, immoral Portman and his ilk who are putting our system of democracy in peril. A Senate that dishonestly and immorally votes to not convict is not a Senate that can turn a page. A Senate which has abandoned its Constitutional oversight duties in order to protect the most divisive president we have ever had has no business talking about new chapters. Portman dishonestly claims to be joining a majority. He's not joining a majority. He's joining all of the bad-faith, immoral lackeys of a president who has broken the law and violated the Constitution. He wants to have it both ways. He wants to say it was wrong and then he wants to do nothing, and then he has the nerve to tell us we should get over it and move on. Portman is normalizing this junk. As a consequence, most of the Trump cult believes he is innocent. Portman will let the illegal Ukraine scheme stand. He will let Trump do the same to countries around the world. He will permit the aims of the Ukraine scheme--the spread of lies about Biden. These unmentionables are too much. They tell us presidents cannot investigated for a crime and then they tell us there was no crime an then they tell us a president can do anything no matter how heinous. Read what Portman said during the Clinton impeachment. Yep, he was all over that like a slime mold.
8
Oh come on, Senator Portman. The White House stonewalled the House investigation, ignored subpoenas, and forbade key witnesses from testifying. Republicans have no standing to call the process that resulted “rushed,” or to complain about thin evidence, especially since the Senate refused to conduct a real trial with real testimony and real evidence, even in the face of overwhelming support for witnesses.
New flash: the American people aren’t nearly as stupid as you seem to hope they are.
8
@Shirley Gutierrez Not so sure about your last sentence.
My question for any Republican is what, exactly, would rise to the level of impeachment? Not extortion, apparently. Nor bribery. Nor using the office of the President to enrich yourself and your family.
Today I read Marco Rubio's pathetic excuses right after seeing the latest Gallup Poll showing our President's approval ratings at an all time high.
I'm not optimistic for the future or our country as long as it's in the hands of cowards like you, Mr. Portman.
14
One consensus for people with brains is that Trump is guilty of impeachable offenses.
14
Dear Senator Portman, If you read the Constitution you will also understand why the president must be impeached. But I suppose you, like the rest of the republican senators, are afraid of trump the bully. You are not a patriot but a dictator supporter. Trump is the most corrupt president in the history of the United States. Keep in mind the day that Obama was elected the republicans spoke out that they would block all of his legislation. You want consensus then you better get on board with the American people that are tired of a corrupt president and senators like you. Trump has now been legitimized by you as a dictator.
11
Wake up Mr.. Portman. Trumpism.is killing the last vestiges of decency and exceptionalism left in the US. Wake up!
10
You're a disgrace to your office, Mr. Portman. I have first-hand memories of Nixon's misconduct, the Watergate hearings, and his subsequent resignation after being told he would have the votes in the Senate to acquit him. What we have witnessed with this President is significantly worse - the naked self-interest, corruption, and vindictiveness are far beyond those exposed during the Watergate hearings. I hope that the responsible citizens of Ohio vote to turn you out of office when you next run for re-election and elect someone committed to defending the Constitution of the United States and the rule of law.
9
Dartmouth, Michigan Law?
So you are a smart guy.
I should then assume these are just rationalizations of a position that you know does not stand up to reason.
Just like the rest of your motley crew that was involved in the Ukraine scam of the American voter. This is exactly what you will remembered for.
12
For the sake of the country, the Democrats were trying to rid the country of the most divisive President in the history of the United States. The Republican party is the divisive force. Using wedge issues like abortion and second amendment rights, repubs keep the country divided. The divisive actions by
your party in this century alone are repugnant, but you don't really care. You say you care, but your loyalty is to your mega donors who keep all of the Republican senators in the same hair cut, the same suit, saying the same things.
To quote your President, "Enjoy".
5
This statement is despicable. Cowardly. Grotesque.
These words might sound fine to Mr. Portman, caught as he is by this GOP Senate Bubble.
But he might consider how these hollow excuses will sound to his children and grandchildren.
10
Rarely have I read a weaker justification for a position than is offered in this self-serving opinion. Clearly Portman realizes the president abused his power, mislead us, and ran a personal errand instead of supervising national policy. Senators voting against impeachment are accepting a quid pro quo: re-election in exchange for a corrupt presidency, one that sacrifices our role as a democratic beacon of hope. Romney stood up to that.
7
Disingenuous at best. No mention of hearing additional evidence and witnesses. Clearly Sen Portman is one of the people "focused on politics and partisanship rather than results for the American people" — 70% of whom wanted to hear additional witnesses.
6
Mr. Portman,
What about if (when) he does it again?
He's abused the power of his office multiple times already, and he's tried to get help from foreign governments to help his campaigns multiple times already. By your logic, it hasn't risen to the level of being a reason to remove him from office, so therefore that'll continue to be true in the future.
Because impeachment and removal from office is the prescribed punishment for a president's bad behavior, your decision renders him immune to punishment for the entire rest of his term. He is, according to you, untouchable.
So, I'm a bit baffled by your assertion that his actions were "improper and shouldn't have happened," when you are directly and explicitly giving him permission to do them all he wants.
I'd very much like you to explain how this makes sense.
8
What an unfortunate day to declare that acquittal is a matter of principle. What was Portman thinking?
4
@Sequel
All of the GOP Senators think like lemmings these days.
2
@Sequel
He was thinking about not being primaried by a Trump accolyte.
Really? In the face of so much real evidence of wrongdoing and with no witnesses at all you will vote to give Trump a pass and expose all of us to rigged elections starting with the next one? While this isn't surprising, but it is deeply disappointing. Thanks to you Senator Portman and to your fellow GOP senators, our democracy is in tatters.
8
"In this case, unlike in other impeachments, no crime was alleged. Although there may be circumstances where a crime isn’t necessary for a president to be impeached, to be impeached under such a circumstance would require meeting an even higher bar, and it wasn’t met here."
OK, what if articles of impeachment had included violations of campaign law--the Stormy payoffs? That's a slam-dunk felony: Ask Cohen. But the D's didn't do it, and that's on them. And it's inexcusable because it gives Portman and others this kind of out.
Nine months away, this isn't looking good. Low turnout in Iowa and perception that the D's couldn't organize a game of musical chairs. A monster--sorry, that's what it was--SOTU speech. From a political perspective, he couldn't have done any better--check the fact-checker stories in NYT and elsewhere and compare with what he did early on. The fib volume has plummeted, and he threw out a lot of numbers, surely by design.
It was like a poker player showing his hand with his opponent still due new cards saying "Beat this." Pelosi tearing up the speech did the D's no favor.
Trump isn't as bad as Dubya--nobody is that bad--but he's darn close, but, if the election were held tomorrow, he'd win. That's why Portman can write this, and that's why the D's need to do a lot better than they have if they hope to gain the White House.
1
He’s worse than Dubya. Dubya wasn’t trying to become America’s first dictator.
I am an Ohio resident who writes Senator Portman regularly (and respectfully) with requests to re-establish democracy and refute the cynical Mitch McConnelization of American. Almost always, my requests, if answered, are irrelevant to the subject posed. This essay is more of the same: the issue of impeaching the President is given short shrift with canned (and cynical/hypocritical) blame being thrown on the House for rushing the proceedings, and then, without segue, commentary that ignores the issue at hand: the Senate's refusal to do as it should (call witnesses; take seriously the President's undermining of national security; etc). Rob, I know you don't care about my vote, but believe me, next time around you ain't getting it.
17
Had Trump been successful with his scheme, it is quite easy to believe that it would have tipped a close election for the Presidency of the United States. How could such a scheme not be impeachable.
11
Mr. Portman:
Since the (Republican) federal Department of Justice has declared that a sitting POTUS cannot be indicted for a crime, but must be removed by impeachment; and since you apparently agree that a sitting POTUS may freely and liberally impede Congress’s discovery process; and since the Republican WH Counsel and other Republican lawyers argued in court that the Judicial branch cannot compel discovery while also demanding that Congress’s only possible remedy to stymied discovery is to seek redress in court:
Will you immediately follow your vote to acquit this sitting POTUS, who among other things has publicly stated that he could walk down Fifth Avenue (or perhaps High St. or State Street in Columbus), shoot someone dead in broad daylight, and get away with it, by introducing and working to pass legislation (or, if needed, Constitutional Amendment) clarifying and declaring that Yes, a sitting POTUS can and may be indicted on criminal charges? Will you also sponsor legislation or include in amendment that for unlawful behavior by a sitting POTUS the statutes of limitations are suspended until 4 years after s/he leaves office?
Fair’s fair, Mr. Portman, and no one should be above the law. Right?!
5
@VOTERS In Your State:
Excellent suggestions. Let’s see if our senators and House members will step up and walk their talk in this regard.
Everyone: Contact your senators and House representatives this week and beyond, and demand they create or clarify the safeguards @VOTERS raised.
Contacts are listed here:
https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
And here:
https://www.house.gov/representatives
No Republicans have the courage of their convictions. This was not a trial. No witnesses, no documents. The president lies and the Republicans pretend he has actually done good things when he has systematically destroyed all the things we should stand for. We need a blue tsunami in November!
4
What level of election meddling does the President have to engage in before it’s an “impeachable offense?” Does he have to personally execute his opponent on Fifth Avenue as he’s boasted of doing or would simply ordering the CIA to do it be enough?
The President’s behavior is reprehensible and EXACTLY the kind of abuse of power the signers of the Declaration of Independence were rebelling against. If election tampering isn’t an abuse of power, a “high crime or misdemeanor,” what is? If you’re an American and you’re not disgusted by this whole circus, by both sides of it, then you’ve clearly never picked up a history book.
4
What does lowering prescription drug costs, improving skills training and combating the addiction crisis have to do with "impartial Justice "and impeachment for bribing a foreign government to aid your reelection? These are all things that could have been accomplished under this president, if he had not spent his entire time trying to cheat, demean his opponents and campaign for reelection since his inauguration. Sen Portman where is the republican health plan alternative to ACA or M4A? Portman and his fellow republicans have voted to eliminate the ACA for 8yrs and now claims to care about healthcare and prescription drug cost? A $2 trillion dollar tax cut for corporations and billionaires and zero for job training or infrastructure building. Sen Portman could have insisted on including funding for Skills Training in that bill but did not and now we are to believe he cares about workers (recall the Trump tax cut came down to Sen McCain's vote and so Portman had the leverage to get this done then)? Sen. Portman should be ashamed to put forth these ridiculous arguments as an excuse for abdicating his sworn duty as a US Senator.
2
I am so disappointed in the Republican party - they have failed our country entirely. For the first time on my life, I fear for the future of our country and our democracy.
7
@Jen - A significant cohort of compatriots feel equally disappointed w the Dems, also in fear for future of nation and democracy.
The Dems were not the ones caught trying to meddle in the 2020 election. Every American regardless of party should care about that, for without free and fair elections we are not a democracy.
2
The senator should get his Constitution straight before making his decision and trying to justify it. Article II, section IV of the Constitution says that the basis for impeachment and removal is treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors, not high crimes and misdemeanors such as treason or bribery.
It's no wonder the Senate Republicans (and House Republicans) completely abdicated their constitutional authority; they don't even know the basic rules.
2
Oh they know them. They just don’t care. Rules and laws only apply to Democrats, not their hero.
If this doesn't rise to the level of removing from office -- what does?
5
Rob Portman: "In this case, unlike in other impeachments, no crime was alleged."
Government Accountability Office: "OMB withheld funds for a policy reason, which is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act. The withholding was not a programmatic delay. Therefore, we conclude that OMB violated the ICA."
Senator Portman is an embarrassment to the citizens of Ohio.
5
I am amazed that a Senator could take the time to write this and submit it and actually believe it. You and your fellow republicans have just ceded power to the president. The founding fathers are rolling over in their grave. The most deliberative body in the world rolled over and produced a sham of a trial. This will go down as a dark day in American history and as someone who was willing to vote for either party you have cemented me in the camp of never a republican.
5
Such a sad ending to Portman’s career.
6
There are so many reasons advanced as to why a senator has chosen not to vote for witnesses or impeach. We all know Trump is guilty and that these crimes matter. Imagine if these reasons were applied to exhonerate ordinary citizens who have broken the law-
Burglary-it's not the right time to convict
Robbery-let the people decide later
Assault-brought to trial too soon
Fraud-you should have had witnesses
Murder-we won't allow witnesses
3
Senator Portman,
You've read the comments here, I trust. There seems to be a consensus that, if nothing else, you and those in the Senate who continue to enable Mr. Trump should be voted out. Yet I see no evidence of concern from you or your colleagues that this will damage your reelection chances (aside from a few special cases such as Collins, Murkowski, and Manchin [D]) . Why aren't you concerned? I'm guessing that you believe that the "fix is in." I hope I'm just being a paranoid snowflake....
3
The Senator says that Trump didn't commit a crime. Can he please explain why USC 30121 doesn't apply to Trump? He solicited a thing of value in his reelection campaign from a foreign national. That's not " improper." That's a crime.
5
So Senator Portman, you lead the "working well together" coalition, okay? Lord knows somebody in the Republican-controlled Senate needs to show the others how to stop kowtowing to the person's failure of true leadership you are so sanctimoniously able to overlook. Waiting for you and the other Republicans who have lost themselves to show your constituents that you are serving them not running scared for yourself.
1
At what point does the Constitutional crisis get addressed? Did Republicans just abdicate all duty to the United States in favor of money and power? And when will the center of American media band together and take the step of calling Trump out on his lies?
Stop reporting it as a mischaracterization and start calling it what it is: Lies and the dismantling of our Republic.
1
As per prior examples of Portman's own own words in Clinton's impeachment, this article is a the new definition of chutzpah.
But anyhow, this kind of shamelessness is nothing new. Republicans love to do the limbo dance. Aka, "how low can you go". And as far as that goes, they are absolutely undisputed, undefeated champions.
2
Citizens United and Trumps acquittal, should that happen today, effectively reduce the level and quality of Americas democracy by a notch or two.
More worrisome is the fact that about 60 million Trump voters are OK with that.
5
I would question whether we still are a democracy, since we just gave the president a green light to interfere in our elections.
2
Consensus?
And this is coming from a Senator who voted for Ryancare, knowing that it was massively rejected even by a strong majority of GOP voters, as it would have strongly increased costs and make 30 million Americans loose their healthcare, according to the CBO ... ?
Now that the entire world has seen how the president of the US bribes foreign corrupt governments to personally interfere in and distort US elections, he asks us to simply ignore the elephant in the room, and now finally, after more than a decade, becomes interested in repairing some crumbling bridges ... ?
Senator Portman, what you're saying here is that you just caved and now blindly obey the corrupt Trump and McConnell government, which gives medals to people like Limbaugh.
In that case, it's not an op-ed about prescription drugs that will get you your image of a "moderate" back ...
4
Mr. Portman evidently believes that the power of congressional oversight in Article One of the Constitution isn’t important enough to fight for. Btw, two crimes are included in the House articles of impeachment, as obstruction of Congress, like obstruction of law, is a crime in the federal statutes.
Trump has refused to allow any administration officials to testify on any matter before the House, whether related to impeachment or not. He has refused any documents on any issue, whether related to impeachment or not. His position—stated by Barr’s DOJ in federal court—is that the president cannot be investigated. In fact no decision or action in his administration can be investigated. He claims absolute executive privilege that gelds Congress.
Mr. Portman seems to have discovered a newfound interest in actually passing legislation to help his constituents. He has a newfound interest in bipartisanship. The House bill to have Medicare negotiate prescription drug costs (HR 3) has been on Mitch McConnell’s desk for over a year, and I haven’t seen Mr. Portman demand it be brought to the floor.
If Portman and other GOP senators really believe Trump’s behavior was wrong, there’s a simple solution—censor it. Will Republicans like Portman be willing to at least censor Trump?
2
You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else.
Winston Churchill
2
How can we understand the US? It is difficult. One president gets impeached because of an affair with a beautiful young women. On the contrary, the president who gropes and insults dozens of women and additionally asks foreign powers to help him get elected - otherwise he won't be elected? - does not get impeached.
4
I'm done with Republicans, at all levels, in all places and circumstances.
9
"Why I'm Willing to Sell Out My Country and Ignore the Constitution Because I'm Afraid the President Will Tweet About Me." By Rob Portman
12
No argument here we haven’t heard and successfully counter argued. Rushed because he’s trying to interfere with an impending election. A technical crime isn’t needed for impeachment. Etc.
You’re voting to acquit because you and your colleagues are invertebrates.
4
Leadership is a top down affair. Trumps actions trying to bribe another nation's leader to give him a political advantage in the 2020 election has stained America's reputation of honesty and fairness.
The Senate's refusal to hear witnesses has damaged the rule of law and left the President unfettered and able to say his call was "perfect".
The facts tell a story of serious corruption at the highest level as revealed by the witness evidence in the House. Bolton's evidence in the Senate would have tied Trump directly to that corruption as instigator.
Put partisan politics aside Senator Rob Portman and do your job when you vote. Protect your country and your democracy first.
4
Why is it that impeaching Mr. Trump will overturn the will of "the people"?...The majority of us voted for Mrs. Clinton....the "will of the people" was denied and, thus, we simple do not have equal representation under the law....
6
If you can't follow the oath you took to the Constitution, you should not be representing this country in any manner or position in goverment.
There are no excuses.
4
Just so I get this straight; If Trump had offered up his personal money to Zelensky in order to get him to start up an investigation into the Bidens and Burisma, that would constitute bribery, hence a ‘high crime’, and therefore would warrant impeachment?
But instead, forcing a hold on American taxpayer’s money, which had already been approved and Ukraine vetted, in order to achieve the same desired result?
The only difference, it seems to me, is that Trump was too cheap to use his own money, when all those taxpayer dollars are just hanging around. Is it not bribery when you’re doing the bribing with someone else’s loot? Rob? Rob?
6
Integrity does matter! Whether democrat or republican senator, if you take an oath of "impartial justice" then integrity dictates that you live up to that standard. Senator Portman's vote of acquittal --without witnesses or evidence exonerating Trump, confirms he has no integrity.
3
Old farmer McDonald, chewing on a straw as he contemplate the photo of and essay by Senator Rob Portman, opines "I've never seen it piled that high before."
4
Congratulations. Whatever important, principled votes you have taken during your senate career will be forgotten. This shameful vote will be your legacy. Hope you enjoy being forever remembered for supporting a dangerous demagogue when you had the chance to be a leader among your peers. We will not forget.
5
Who cares why he is voting to acquit? The fact of his vote says it all as far as I am concerned .
5
A number of writers here are commenting that Rob Portman will be remembered as a stooge, a traitor, a spineless wonder. That is incorrect. As with most senators and most representatives, he won't be remembered at all. And I suspect he's counting on that; he will get whatever booty he can while in office and then fade into a cushy retirement. Unless he is voted out of office before he can retire, then he might have to work a few years for one of his owners.
4
I am a Portman constituent in rural Centerburg, Ohio. I and many people I know have called, written, emailed Senator Portman to implore him to follow his conscience and justice to remove the dangerous President from office. He could care less. Portman has admitted Trump was wrong, not just "inappropriate." But that's all ok (although lying about an affair was impeachable). Instead of removing Trump from office, Portman and his fellow enablers are going to give Trump a free pass to continue to lie, cheat, and demonize over half of the people in the state of Ohio and more than half the people in the United States, with his degrading, hate-filled, rhetoric. What would it take for these Senators to show some courage? They don't mind that Trump continues to spew lies to sow distrust in our institutions, separate children from their parents and putting them in cages on the border, lie about his taxes and investments as he continues to reap profits from his properties, offend and turn away from our allies, and on and on. Trump is fulfilling the Putin playbook, probably because Putin bailed him out of bankruptcy. He does this at the same time he's condemning socialism and communism if any Democrat has the gall to try to make life better for us losers who aren't billionaires. It is easy to see how great societies fail when they rationalize corruption and criminality. It will be Portman's fault.
7
I want to go at length about the hypocrisy of Republican senators like yourself. I want to bring up your flip flop between the Clinton Impeachment to the Trump Impeachment, for your own partisan judgments that you try to ridicule here. I want to talk about how you and all Republican senators refuse to have a fair trial, and then complain how there isn't a real trial; notwithstanding the breaking of your own oath to remain nonpartisan. I also want to say everything I can about how you try to diffuse this situation, by bringing up necessary legislation, when your senate majority leader blocks all legislation brought to his desk.
Alas it seems as though it's not worth my breath. We can all call out your hypocrisy, and the lies you both make and stand for. But in the end, you and your colleagues will neither listen, nor even attempt to care. You are supposed to stand up for your constituents, but all you seem to care about is appeasing a man who will keep you in power. Working for your constituents is not partisan, so maybe start there before preaching to us.
2
Time to take up consensus issues?
Exactly when does the baby in the WH act like an adult, much less a leader, and bring forward some consensus?
2
Dear Senator Portman,
You are wrong, you know that, you provide us with illogical explanations that fall short of the ethics required of your office. You promise bi-partisan legislative activity that your party will continue to block while pursuing a purely partisan agenda not approved by the American people. You should just retire before this vote today - your grandchildren will thank you in the future.
3
I read the headline and laughed. Why isn’t this guy addressing the issue on the table right now: facts and consequences of House impeachment?
2
“the shortest proceeding, with the thinnest evidentiary record, and the narrowest grounds ever used to impeach a president.”
Gee, Senator Portman. I wonder why there wasn't more evidence? What do you think?
3
In the legislative graveyard that is the US Senate, consensus will be hard to find.
2
So, we should focus on what "unites us". Nothing, absolutely nothing, will unite us if you acquit. Trump committed at least one provable crime -- convict!
3
Self serving excuse. No integrity. No Upholding American values and laws. I
2
Senator Portman—the really reason n you’re voting for Trump is because you don’t have the backbone (or other body parts) to vote against him. Well I do and I’ll be voting against you in 2022. See you at the polls!
5
Thanks, Senator, but I already have a darn good explanation of why you were always going to vote in this shabby way, no matter the evidence or the country’s best interests.
You’re scared of Trump, you think your re-election and connections matter more than America, and you’ve talked yourself into believing that tax breaks for the wealthiest and a passel of far-right judges are worth your sellout.
I’d mention hypocrisy and gutlessness, but they kind of come with that particular package, don’t they.
2
Does this mean I can recuse myself when I have to show up for jury duty?
Can I advise the attorney's that I do not believe in calling witnesses. They should present their cases and then send the jury for deliberation. We have heard all we need to hear to make a decision.
5
Having lost the approval of the majority of their countrymen the Republican party via their chief mouthpiece, (McConnell) has chosen to steal it.
Thus they see no problem with suppression of our most basic principles as they about stealing what they haven't been able to get honestly.
This is just the next step along their path to the racist state they do long for.
6
Instead of asking readers to think about what unites us, Sen. Portman, why don't you demand that of your own party's president? It's his divisiveness, and the divisiveness your party constantly spins, that is the main issue. Too bad you can't see beyond your partisan hack theories.
11
You have no honor and you disrespect the constitution that you swore to uphold. All because you fear political repercussions. You are not a patriot. You have failed the biggest test as a Senator. Just retire and let someone with honor take the seat.
14
You are voting against impeaching the President because you are afraid. You are handing him the next election. He will use his unlimited power to cheat, just as he cheated last election with Russian interference. You are an enemy of democracy.
11
I hope senator Portman reads the comments, especially those from his constituents who see right through this disingenuous self-justification for his shameful vote today
13
In order to prevent future partisan impeachment, I will ensure a partisan acquittal!
Galaxy brain take from Senator Portman.
9
@ E Better than a partisan conviction!!!
mr. portman,
Clinton was acquitted because it was a lie of consensus sex. do you equate Mr. trump's lies related to national security and support of Ukraine against Russia? if that is the case you and other senators should take some common senses course. you have also to look forward - what Mr. Trump can do if he is boldened by people like you. do something so that his irretic behaviors and lies are contained for the future of our country and also relation with foreign countries. 75% of voters like him to be removed - why not you?
4
I am shocked, I am not shocked.
You have essentially given him carte blanche to do anything he pleases, with US power and wealth, to benefit himself, and in secret (executive privilege, which he via his main henchman, Guiliani, have even tried to extend to seven degrees of separation plus). I can't but help think there is some xenophobia swirling around. More fool you if you think he will limit his offenses to foreign policy alone.
Do you not even care that he sicced his goons on a US Ambassador, known for her anti-corruption stance, and threatened her via a tweet?
Expediency, self-gratification (some say fear) has blinded Senate Republicans. You know he won't stop, and yet you take away all guardrails leaving you impotent to act on future (and past that have yet to be revealed) high crimes and misdemeanors. You have abnegated your responsibilities and essentially struck impeachment from the Constitution (without the 38 State votes needed for such an amendment).
I am shocked, I am not shocked.
3
You and your colleagues have proven over and over again that this administration does not know the meaning of being bipartisan.
Rest assured that your and your colleagues' cowardice, greed, and desperation to remain in power at all costs, to the detriment of this nation, will never be forgiven.
4
Absolutely wrong.
This opinion piece by Senator Portman is nothing more than justifying his lack of moral resolve and courage.
It's true, whether in high office or a lowly position, morality shines bright in only a few people, and even less in leaders.
Senator Portman, you don't deserve the office you occupy, and even less the title of leader. You failed us and you'll fail in history.
Shame on you.
8
Dear Senator Portman. With your upcoming vote to acquit, you can count yourself partly responsible for the debasement of the office of the presidency.
In the end, it’s all about party loyalty. Shame on you.
7
Mr. Portman- Because you so shamelessly helped Trump stay in his position, you may very well lose yours. Oops.
5
Why is Portman voting to acquit? Cowardice and greed, that's why. If Republicans in Congress were to pursue the truth and uphold the Constitution, the river of lobbyist bribe money would dry up.
4
In refusing to show even an ounce of integrity or courage, you and your party have, by any measure, become complicit in the very crimes you're determined to cover up. History will not be kind to you or your legacy, and neither will the American people in November.
2
Nice try Senator. Trump's actions were extortion. If you don't think that is a form of bribery, nothing is. But the truth is, you know very well that Trump's actions were impeachable. So please, spare us. We have heard all the excuses and the are all lame.
There will be few, if any bipartisan efforts by the Democrats. As you very well know, McConnell and Trump have consistently left them out of any discussion. They have also been shown, not to be trusted. Your ramblings do you no favor. We are not ignorant.
6
Yes, the House rushed the trial. But in that short time provided lots of solid evidence of wrongdoing, from testimony from highly credentialed and respected Americans like Ambassador Taylor, Maria Yovonavith, Fiona Hill and others. Should we instead had a five year investigation, and required a sworn deposition from the POTUS, like we had when Bill Clinton lied about his personal moral failing?
2
Threatening to work against American interests and a mandate from Congress as President in order to get a foreign government to help you get elected is an impeachable offense. If that's not what is? You talk about taking up consensus issues. The most consensus issue if GOP politicians spoke how they really feel rather then what they say in fear of Trump's followers turning against them is that our current President is corrupt, incompetent, racist, sexist, mentally unbalanced, clinically narcissistic and is intentionally creating more division in this country than anyone alive. That's the consensus issue you should work on first. Otherwise everything is contentious.
1
Senator Portman and everyone of his Republican colleagues in the Senate are cowards and hypocrites who are all in need of a college course on the Constitution they swore to defend. Senator Portman should be lecturing no one about what we should be doing.
3
Let's be clear. Rob Portman felt that Clinton's consensual affair warranted impeachment, but is unwilling to curb Trump who has been proven to have bribed a foreign country in order to cheat an American election. And he then obstructed congress, and undermined the "three legged stool" that is fundamental to our democracy. That endangers our democracy, and Portman knows it. He's voting out of self interest only. All the actions of this cruel and fascist president are squarely on the shoulders of Portman and his republican team of thugs.
I feel sick and scared for our future under Trump.
5
Rob Portman: "we do not need to bring in additional witnesses (we all know what they'd say)"
Rob Portman: "We didn't have enough evidence so I had to acquit (*parrots spurious line of defense*)"
Rob Portman: "it was purely partisan" - as if the Republicans were unwilling victims of partisanship, when you engaged in a purely partisan effort to impede proper evidentiary exploration and worked exclusively to muddy the waters.
We all see what happened, the American people are not stupid. Trump called McConnell to a heel. McConnell whipped you. Nice try on protecting yourself, but we all watched and know what actually happened, and it is disgusting and a failure of your office.
Goodbye, Mr. Portman. You and your Republican colleagues have sold the soul of your party, sold out America, and will be voted out. We, the voters, will clean this up.
3
Consensus issues? You mean like 75% of Americans want witnesses called for the impeachment trial? Or do you mean stuff that you can throw our money at?
This senator should be ashamed of himself and this “so called” president. He is the most morally corrupt and intellectually vapid president in history. These Republican senators can make all the excuses for him that they like - it shows their real colors, which are not red, white, and blue.
1
Disgusting. Do these people think their families will be safe when it all comes tumbling down? Is that why they don't care?
2
Portman and the rest of the power and money hungry Republicans are despicable. They have no vision, no understanding of the big picture. They are all in it for themselves.
I am horrified at America and how debased she has become. She will suffer from within if this disregard for the better good continues.
1
Nobody will ever respect you, or your fellow Senators again.
2
Impeachment is no longer purely partisan. Romney will convict. You will look even smaller in the history books.
3
Senator – I assumed you were a thoughtful, reasoned individual who took his responsibilities in the Senate seriously. Unfortunately, your comments regarding previous Presidential impeachment actions and the rationale you present in this Op-Ed do not support that assumption. Your inability to conclude that this President’s actions rise to the level of removal from office is astounding. Attempting to undermine an opponent’s credibility through engaging another government to intervene in our elections - the process that has set the U.S. apart from the rest of the world - covering up those actions, and in the process disregarding the Constitution by not providing information that the Congress is entitled to. If not this, then what would rise to the level you consider appropriate?
3
Hahaha! Portman is hilarious! Please tell me he's joking.
If risking American security by threatening to leave Ukraine defenseless against Russia unless they knee-cap Biden's candidacy for you isn't a "high crimes and misdemeanors," nothing is.
If you ever do lose your Senate gig, you've got a future as a professional contortionist, just as Trump would be great as the Don in a remake of The Godfather.
1
Just be honest. It has nothing to do with your oath. It is all about party above country and protecting your job,
3
Sorry, Mr. Portman, this is just another piece of self serving , disingenuous garbage. I am a constituent. I have called. I have written. I have asked WHEN you will ever host a town Hall. I receive your newsletter. All ever get in reply is boilerplate like this. The truth is you are scared to death of Trump. We all know that if a Democratic president did what trump has done he would have been out of office in months, not years. So I will join with my fellow Ohioans who still believe in the Constitution and rule of law to defeat you in your next contest.
4
Lying about an extramarital affair vs selling out our national security to cheat in an election?! The first is sad but the second is dangerous abuse of power that warrants removal. The GOP has no moral compass and should be ashamed.
4
Today, every Senator who votes for acquittal, along with those previous HORs who did not vote to impeach, is spitting on the face/grave of every American who has served their country over the last 200+ years, whether it be military or non-partisan Government service. Most people serve their country do so in defense of the written ideals of the Constitution. Up until today, they were immutable laws.
Now, the checks and balances system of which this country was built is heretofore broken and no longer respected. DJT now has carte blanche to murder his opponents and journalists, cancel the election, and appoint himself "supreme leader or der furher".
Its reminiscent of the early 1930's in Germany, where multitudes of conservative and unqualified jurists were appointed, where corporations bought influence, where the Reichstag members marched in goosestep to their leader, where the press was ruthlessly attached, where right wing media has unlimited influence (ie Limbaugh, Hannity, Fox, etc).
Ask yourself this - WHO will stop DJT?
6
" It was also the only purely partisan impeachment in history."
Well, Trump did the deed, tried to get a foreign power to help him get reelected. Then he obstructed all efforts to investigate his crime.
Calling the investigation of that effort to cheat "partisan" is like the pot calling the kettle black.
You, Mr. Portman, will acquit because YOU are partisan. YOU won't convict a proven cheater and liar because he is Republican.
It is so sad to be watching the death of the Republican party.
1
"It was also the only purely partisan impeachment in history." That's rich, coming from a Republican.
Apparently, we cannot take care of our healthcare system, the addiction epidemic, infrastructure... and have a president who adheres to a minimum standard of decency or decorum.
Senator, you don't fool me. Save your false equivalencies and your arc-angelic tone for another time. You know that, had a democrat done this (basically, pressure a foreign country to help him cheat in an election which, incidentally, could have made him beholden to that country and subject to blackmail), you would have (rightly) voted to impeach.
You are voting to acquit because, as Lamar Alexander puts it, the economy (for you and your buddies), conservative judges... You are voting to acquit because you have cast aside decorum and decency. You own it. I have to put up with it, but do not tell me stories.
2
Rob Portman you are wrong, wrong, wrong to vote to acquit the President. You can't rationalize away his wrongdoings. The House did what it could to investigate the President's actions and it was blocked and thwarted every step of the way by the President and his cronies in the Republican Party. The Republican Party has no guts and no honor and neither do you.
The article's accompanying photo is quite suitable.
Portman certainly is in the dark.
3
Clinton was just sex (not perjury or obstruction or witness tampering.) This was just a phone call. See how easy it has always been?
Mitch McConnell does NOT manage the senate by consensus. Period, full stop.
I think what Portman means by "consensus" here is..... McConnells way or the highway. This is not consensus Mr Portman (you do not deserve to be called senator considering how you have presented yourself in this editorial hit job.
3
So a president extorting a foreign government for dirt on a political opponent does not constitute being an impeachable offense, but a president having an affair with an intern DOES???????? Please explain that reasoning, Senator Portman.
I understand that Sen. Portman’s essay represents his personal perspective. But to allow this absurd statement go unchallenged is no better than the 2020 Facebook policy of allowing all political lies to be published.
According to Portman: “Rushing an impeachment case through the House without due process and giving the Senate a half-baked case to finish set a dangerous precedent. If the Senate were to convict, it would risk making this kind of quick, partisan impeachment in the House a regular occurrence. That would serve only to further deepen the divides that seem to permeate every part of our society today.”
Say what? Rushing? Lack of due process? Half-baked case? Dangerous precedent?
I am deeply disappointed that Sen. Portman’s essay has been printed unchallenged/unannotated. Yes, there are reader comments, but I don’t for one minute think they are reviewed (including mine) by the Times or by the authors.
I can barely read the Times anymore, and probably won’t for much longer. It just hurts too much. What’s going on? FYI, I write thinking nothing will change. Dispiriting!
1
" like treason"
Aren't you even a little curious as to what Putin might have said to Trump during their secretive meetings? Why Trump fired the corruption-fighting ambassador to the Ukraine? Why Trump started spouting the Russian propaganda line that it was Ukraine that interfered in the 2016 election?
2
Shorter: "I'm a loyal party apparatchik, but here's some wordy nonsense to satisfy the base."
2
THE GOP NEEDS TO STOP LYING ABOUT THE "Thinnest evidence" and lack of witnesses, when that the fact is that Trump himself caused the absence of both evidence and witnesses by stonewalling the House. It is unprecedented in US history that a president would stonewall Congress, thereby prohibiting it from its constitutionally mandated oversight functions. Trump has willfully destroyed the ability of the Congress to take care that the laws are duly executed. To wit, Trump has, literally, executed the laws by excising them from his discourse. Tragically for the US, Trump doesn't need to find another Roy Cohn, as the evil that Cohn taught Trump was sufficient for him to destroy our democracy. The GOP members who repeat Trump's lies are violating their oaths of office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. What will happen to our nation when the lawmakers have no use for the laws, disregarding and dumping them as if they're throwing out so much garbage. The great evil of ideologies is that they render objective, logical debate impossible. The GOP has destroyed the guardrails of our political discourse, all the while lying to the public about Trump's "innocence," which only exists as a figment of their impaired minds. Our Founders would no doubt be appalled at the evil and destruction that have been wrought by Trump and his savage hoard. He grabs the laws and mauls them, because he's a star. They let him do it because he's a star. Trump is a huge black hole.
1
I'm curious why the NYT chose to publish this given that it literally contains lies and glaring omissions. It's one thing to allow the REASONABLE and GOOD FAITH view of the other side to be expressed--it's quite another to give a mendacious bad faith actor the venue to spread his lies.
Two examples:
1) His claim that no other impeachment failed to allege a crime is just false. A judge was impeached for being drunk on the bench, for example. And obstruction IS a crime.
2) His claim that the process was purely partisan is akin to a person who killed his parents asking for sentencing mercy because he's an orphan. Also some Dems voted not to impeach, not a single Republican voted to impeach.
And there is also a significant omission that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Senator Portman's piece was written in bad faith--namely the fact that he voted to impeach Clinton. I was wondering how he could possibly explain how he thinks that Clinton lying under oath in a trial on a civil matter was impeachable but holding up government money to solicit foreign influence in an election is not impeachable. He clearly can't so he just ignored the blatant inconsistency.
And the NYT gave him the forum to spread his bad faith argument. Why?
2
Good call putting Portman’s face in darkness and shadow.
3
Get a spine Senator.
3
Bipartisanship? Currently more than 275 bipartisan bills passed by the US House of Representatives languish on Senator Mitch McConnell's desk. This doesn't mean the Republican Senate hasn't been busy. It has worked at a feverish pace, running roughshod over rules protecting the Democratic Senate minority, to confirm D. Trump's lifetime appointments of more than 150 Federal judges.
2
So basically, Rob Portman recognizes the President did something very bad, but doesn't want to run the risk that opposing the president would hurt his chances of advancing his legislative agenda.
Also, "the House engaged in a rushed process that lacked fundamental fairness"? Give me a break. The House's decision was based on testimony from numerous witnesses in the President's administration, gathered over the course of many weeks. The Republicans in the Senate refused to hear from even a single witness and jumped at the opportunity to acquit as early as possible.
2
Mr. Portman-Because you shamelessly helped Trump stay in his position, you may very well lose yours. Oops.
1
There are hundreds of bills on McConnell's desk and this process is the reason things aren't getting done. What a silly, specious argument.
4
People justify what they do no matter how wrong it is so they can sleep at night. This Senator and others in his party surely are racking their brains to find whatever reason they can create to vote no on impeachment. Senator, you can come up with all sorts of creative reasons to not do your duty to your Country, but We the People know the truth.
1
Do Republicans ever tell the truth? Say what you will about Democrats but they rarely fall to this level of disingenuousness. This article is self-serving and fails to be convincing on any level whatsoever. Along with the religious right, the Republicans have no morals, little patriotism and serve only the wealthy donor class. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
1
Yes, this has been a partisan dispute, made so when Republicans chose to condone blatant corruption, treason, obstruction of justice, obstruction of Congress and abuse of power, because they cower under the oppression of the minority who hew to Trump's hateful pandering to racists and xenophobes with their gauzy recollections of a Caucasian Utopia that never existed.
1
These are just words on a page, sentiments of contrived thinking to achieve an agenda of looking reasonable. It’s somewhat between marketing and propaganda. My confusion is Why?
2
Mr. Portman, you and the other Republicans of the Senate have let down the American people. We expected justice and all we got was politics. Shame on you, the history books will not be kind to you and your ilk.
2
"It was also the only purely partisan impeachment in history."
Dude.
2
If trying to cheat in an upcoming election is not subject to any form of rebuke, I suspect your morals and ethics have been corrupted sometime in your past.
2
The brains of 21st-century Republicans should be studied by scientists. They'd be in awe of their findings, and completely grossed out.
2
@Ken
to quote Igor abbe normal
It was treason. Russia (enemy) is attacking Ukraine (ally), and Trump helped them.
3
I suscribed to the Times because I wanted to help it in it’s stated mission to get the unvarnished truth out to people who care about the rule of law and democratic values in this world!
So imagine my disappointment to see this self serving tripe full of lies and half truths from a member of the GOP...a party that is doing it’s level best to snuff out and destroy the democratic values and traditions that the Times says it holds dear and wants to help preserve.
Your readers expect and deserve better ..than to have their intelligence insulted by the likes of Senator Portman.
3
History will record this and 100 years from now every senator that has allowed this presidential misconduct to go unpunished, will be tainted and tarnished with the mark of feeble mindedness.
1
I'm now convinced that Republicans in the Senate do not deserve their power or even a voice when it comes to this impeachment sham. You all violated your oaths to be actual jurors and remain impartial in the trial. Any other person in this country would have been arrested for contempt, but since you Republican Senators play politics and think politically about everything now, it no longer matters to you what is right or wrong..., just how you can spin it to your voters and manipulate the public. Shame on you!
More spin than a washing machine.
2
And this is why the NYT and other media should be reporting more about the Senate races. Winning back the Senate is just as critical as voting out Mr. Trump.
2
Why I’m Voting to Acquit President Trump ?
I am a sellout.
3
Consensus? You must be kidding. To engage in this coverup and expect decent elected officials and citizens to go along with you is delusional. By the way, the last time I checked, extortion and bribery continue to be serious crimes, even if the attempt to extort or bribe failed. But maybe you think that only applies to non-republicans.
From Ezra Klein: "Richard Nixon wasn’t impeached over Watergate. He resigned. And the reason he resigned is that two Republican senators, Barry Goldwater and Hugh Scott, alongside John Rhodes, the leader of the House Republicans, told him his party wasn’t going to stand by him." Where are the standards of your party, Senator Portman? When is the true patriotic courage and moral outrage? Why will none of you stand up to a racist and misogynist, a divisive petty tyrant focused on his own greedy need?
2
He could have skipped the act of twisting himself into a pretzel with ever changing excuses and just told the truth:
"I'm scared to death of trump."
3
Senator Portman, what I really like to know is why you voted against having new witnesses testifying before the Senate?
1
Mr. Portman, you are voting to acquit the venal bully in the White House because you lack the courage to stand up for what’s right. That’s how history will record your behaviour.
2
Dear Mr. Portman, you are apparently very easily fooled, or are extremely willing to be so. You know full well that the President violated Title X of the Congressional Budget Office, otherwise known as the Impound Inclusion Act. For those unfamiliar with it, as Mr. Portman apparently is, it governs the release of fund as appropriated by Congress. The final timing of the payment is left to the discretion of the White House Office of Management and Budget, within certain bounds, which this acting President exceeded. Mr. Portman knows that full well because he had to vote on these appropriations, again. Of course, what Mr. Portman refuses to admit is that he could have gotten all the details he needed if he'd merely done his job, and called for in person eyewitnesses, such as Bolton, Mulvaney, Pence, etc. to the President's illegality. DJT's obstruction in this matter could not have been more clear. Furthermore, Mr. Portman you are on notice for the next time Mr. Trump breaks the law, which he will, for you are now his accomplice. Don't say you have not been warned. I hope many more Ohioans who are as disgusted with your behavior, as those who have written in here, vote you out in your coming election.
For those who are interested, the details of the CBO Act are here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Budget_and_Impoundment_Control_Act_of_1974
You cannot straddle the line of saying it is wrong, but you shouldn't do anything about it. The house was rushed because their investigation was obstructed, a second crime that you chose to do nothing about. How many circles can you run in? What good are you?
No, Senator Portman, what DT did was illegal, against the law, etc. If what he did wasn't even a misdemeanor in your mind, then those like you, and it seems to be mostly Republican Senators, and others, with that type of thinking, are seriously ignorant, or just have never moved in their lives to being a truth teller at all times. Being a truth teller is the only thing that holds any society together anywhere around the world besides this country. Besides, DT has been a pathological liar since he was very young. All of it is very dangerous, and sad for our constitution, and country as well.
1
I ended an email to Portman last week: "Every senator who votes no on witnesses and documents will be putting on their record an indelible infidelity to their oath of office." The Coverup Caucus of last week is arguably more damaging than the Complicity Caucus that will go on the record today to keep Trump in office. Voters can remove Trump within a year, but it will take multiple election cycles to hold senators accountable for last week's game-changing suppression of the whole truth in defiance of more than 70% of the public.
6
Republican's have sabotaged this case from day one. Digging their heels in, remaining silent, and having regular strategy meetings with the accused! how can you have participated in the spectacle we just witnessed, done the things you've collectively done,and then clap your hands and say let's move on. I can't tell from this "Opinion" if your viciously cynical, or just amoral.
2
If you think the case is half baked and didn't have a sufficient evidentiary record, why didn't you vote to call John Bolton and see unredacted documents. Impeachment by the house is like an indictment. Not all the evidence is presented in an indictment. The trial is supposed to be in the Senate. You are voting to impeach because you have no courage, or sense of ethics. Why not call John Bolton? Maybe he would have told you about other deals Trump has made, like suddenly pulling the US troops out of Syria, probably for a hotel in Turkey, or as a favor to Putin. Not voting to hear witnesses and see documents, makes all your justifications lies. The American people know.
1
If you have to justify why you're doing something, you know that what you're doing is wrong.
4
Never, ever vote for the GOP again.
3
The dozen of lesser awful things this guy has done would get him fired from managing a Dairy Queen. I can't believe the standard is lower for the Senate to supervise the management of the United States.
3
"It was also the only purely partisan impeachment in history."
Andrew Johnson wished to get rid of a radical Republican thereby diminishing the effectiveness of Reconstruction. He violated the Tenure of Office Act.
Clinton's crime was lying about engaging in oral sex.
How is this the "only purely partisan impeachment in history"?
1
Sen. Portman, I will say to you what I just wrote to Sen. Collins: I don't live in your state, but I will do everything in my power to throw out all Republicans. Ours is a democracy, not a monarchy. Your party's blatant hypocrisy is stomach-turning.
3
Yes, Democrats hate Donald Trump (and/or his lousy policies).
Yes, Donald Trump committed impeachable offenses.
These are not mutually exclusive.
Trump always points to others’ alternative motives to exonerate himself. But people can have motives based on substance while also having other motives. That does not make their actions illegitimate.
And we hate Trump or at least we hate his policies because they are bad policies that cause real harm.
1
@Ron Portman
Did you really need to explain "Why" ??