Porteous Impeachment

Floor Speech

Mrs. McCASKILL. Mr. President, our Constitution is a glorious thing. It is in fact the envy of the world. One of the most effective and elegant elements of the foundation of our government is the provisions that provide for the checks and balances of our three branches of government.

It has been an incredible honor to participate in the impeachment process that was devised by very wise people very long ago, which actually provides the American people the reassurance that the Constitution is working the way it was designed to work when it comes to the checks and balances of the three branches of government.

The responsibilities of the modern Congress, both the House and Senate, are extensive. I don't need to spend much time talking about how busy we are right now. But the fact that we set aside everything that we were doing and came together and sat as a Senate and listened to the arguments and deliberated extensively about this impeachment should be reassuring to every American. I think the results are interesting in that it reflects that each Senator made an individual decision about the Articles of Impeachment. There was some unanimity on some of the counts, but on others it was Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and progressives, on both sides of the question. I think that shows the extent to which everybody made an independent judgment and took their responsibility very seriously.

I want to take a few minutes now to thank some people who are unsung heroes. Obviously, I thank the distinguished vice chairman, the Senator from Utah, for his support, experience, and wisdom in discharging the committee's duties. He was essential to this process and a great rock for me to lean on at many turns during this process. I also thank the 10 other members of the Impeachment Trial Committee for their devotion and diligence and commitment to this important work.

Then I want to take a couple of minutes to talk about the staff. I want to begin with Derron Parks, who is seated with me on the floor of the Senate. Derron walked into my office and was hired to be a legislative assistant for health care, in the middle of some pretty difficult times on health care. Then I said to him, ``By the way, can you run an impeachment of a Federal judge, also?''

As a brandnew member of my staff, he took on incredible responsibilities. All of the thanks I have received belong to him because he worked hard, he worked smart, he was a great leader, and he did a remarkable job of marshaling a bunch of Senators, a bunch of staff, a bunch of witnesses, a bunch of evidence, a bunch of legal research, and he did it in a way that I think the Senate can be very proud.

Also, I thank Tom Jipping, Senator Hatch's staff person, who helped with this as the deputy staff director for the Impeachment Trial Committee. He also put in an incredible amount of work and gave a very valuable contribution.

Justin Kim, counsel, was very important because whenever there was a disagreement about what was the right road to take in terms of historical precedence, rule of law, decisions on motions, he was always a good sounding board. There was always more than one smart lawyer in the room so that the ideas could be bounced back and forth and somehow we could come up with the right answer based on the law, the Constitution, and historical precedent.

Rebecca Seidel was also very valuable to the committee. She is another counsel who was essential in this process.

Erin Johnson, deputy counsel and chief clerk, did, frankly, some of the most difficult work, and that was making sure we had a quorum during the trial, which was hard, as you can imagine. Keeping Senators in one seat for an extended period of time is tough. She managed to make sure that we always had the quorum the law demanded.

Lake Dishman, another member of the staff, did a wonderful job.

Susan Navarro Smelcer, an analyst on the Federal judiciary, CRS, did wonderful work for us in terms of allowing us some help on the research of the historical precedence and decisions that guided our way.

Morgan Frankel, Senate legal counsel, was on the floor for the conclusion of this impeachment matter. Like Senator Hatch, this wasn't his first time to deal with impeachment matters, so he was a wealth of information and wonderful help to us.

Pat Mack Bryan also did great work.

Grant Vinik and Tom Cabayero were also from the Senate legal counsel staff.

All of the committee members had staff people who helped. I will not put all of their names on the record now, but they will be made part of my entire statement. I will have more comments on the impeachment proceedings that I will insert in the Record.

I will conclude by saying that I am very proud to be a Senator today. There are days when that is not as easy to say. There are times when this place is pretty dysfunctional. But I am very proud of the Senate and how we conducted ourselves during this very important and grave proceeding.

I think the responsibility was handled as the Founders would have wanted us to handle it, and I think we should all be proud of that.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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