By Darragh Roche
US News Reporter
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Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) has suggested that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could be impeached and put on trial in the Senate if former President Donald Trump is convicted.
Rubio raised the issue in the Senate on Friday through a question to the House Impeachment Managers and later repeated the idea on Twitter. Senators are able to pose questions to counsel at Trump's trial.
Some of the former president's Republican allies had made the claim that trying him violates the Constitution because he's no longer in office but this was rejected by a Senate vote and undermined by precedent.
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"Voting to convict the former president would create a new precedent that a former official can be convicted and disqualified by the Senate," Rubio's question said. It was read by the clerk on the Senate floor.
"Therefore, is it not true that under this new precedent a future House facing partisan pressure to 'lock her up' could impeach a former Secretary of State and a future Senate be forced to put her on trial and potentially disqualify from any future office?"
Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin, the lead House Impeachment Manager, dismissed the idea and explained that the question of the Senate's authority to try Trump had been dealt with.
"I don't know how many times I can say it, the jurisdictional issue is over," Raskin said.
"The Senate settled it," Raskin added. He pointed out that Trump was impeached while he was still president. Clinton has not been in public office since 2013.
Raskin said Rubio's suggestion "has no bearing on this case because I don't think you're talking about an official who was impeached while they were in office for conduct that they committed while they were in office."
Rubio took to Twitter on Friday to reiterate his argument, writing: "If the Senate sets a precedent that a former official can be convicted & disqualified it will be just a matter of time before a future House, under partisan pressure to 'Lock Her Up', will impeach & the Senate forced to try other former officials."
"A destructive slipper slope [sic]," he said.
"Lock her up" was a frequent chant at Trump's campaign rallies and he often attacked Clinton for her alleged criminal actions, calling her "Crooked Hillary." However, the Trump administration took no action against the former first lady.
In 2015, Clinton faced 11 hours of questioning about the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack, which occurred while she was at the State Department. Suggestions that she had behaved improperly while in office were often drawn on by her Republican opponents in 2016.
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