Rand Paul has long been a thorn in the side of Democrats in Washington, D.C.
And this week reminded the American people of why.
Now, Senator Paul is picking a fight with Chuck Schumer that will turn the Senate on its head.
When Democrats took de-facto control of the U.S. Senate at the beginning of the year, Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was widely expected to be one of the most powerful politicians in Washington, D.C.
With a unified Democratic Congress, as well as control of the White House, Schumer would be free to ram through virtually any major legislation that Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi were pushing for.
But, unfortunately for Schumer, much of the attention in recent weeks has been focused on the looming impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, rather than advancing any sort of left-wing Democrat-backed legislation that he and his caucus were hoping to push for.
But it isn’t just the impeachment trial against Trump that is now being discussed in the Senate.
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a long-time rival of the New York Democrat, is openly calling for Schumer himself to be impeached.
The Washington Times reports, “Sen. Rand Paul said if Democrats seek to impeach former President Donald Trump for his rhetoric before the Capitol riot, then they should consider impeaching colleagues such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer “for inciting violence” in the past.”
The argument made in favor of impeaching Trump according to Congressional Democrats and even some liberal-leaning Republicans in Congress was that the former President was responsible for inciting violence on January 6th when protestors entered the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to halt or overturn the counting of electoral college votes by Congress.
But, as Paul points out, Senator Schumer and many other Congressional Democrats, are – by their own logic – guilty of many of the same actions they themselves accuse President Trump of committing.
“I think if we are going to criminalize speech and somehow impeach everybody who says, oh, go fight to hear your voices heard, really we ought to impeach Chuck Schumer then,” Senator Paul told Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace in early February. “He went to the Supreme Court, stood in front of the Supreme Court and said specifically, hey [Justice Neil] Gorsuch, hey [Justice Brett] Kavanaugh, you’ve unleashed a whirlwind, and you’re going to pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you continue with these awful decisions.”
Senator Paul is referring to a speech Senator Schumer gave in front of the Supreme Court to a crowd of like-minded supporters, protesting a series of impending decisions the judiciary were set to rule on.
“”[The Supreme Court has] released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions,” Schumer said to the assembled crowd in March 2020, with the Senator even going so far as to call out Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch by name in the speech.
The Supreme Court protests, along with the speech, were later condemned by Chief Justice John Roberts, who issued a stunning rebuke of Schumer’s challenge against the court’s integrity.
“Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous,” Roberts said in a statement slamming Schumer’s speech. “All Members of the Court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.”
For his part, Chief Justice Roberts has refused to recognize the legitimacy of the impending impeachment trial, breaking over 150 years of precedent by refusing to preside over the trial, forcing Senate Democrats to seat one of their own, Senator Patrick Leahy, as the presiding officer.
The impeachment trial is expected to begin later this month.