U.S. Sen. Doug Jones was met by about 100 people last Thursday afternoon at Brewton City Hall during one of the many stops along his 'town hall meetings' stops across the state of Alabama and he did address the 'elephant in the room' over the current impeachment process of President Donald Trump.
He was the one who actually brought the issue up. I was impressed with his answers.
Jones has been pressed by multiple news organizations on how he feels about the impeachment and actually how he will vote if the House of Representatives approves articles of impeachment and sends it to the Senate for a vote.
As he should, Jones said he has not made up his mind because he has not seen or studied any of the evidence against the president.
The other elephant in the room is that Jones is a sitting Democrat senator in a state that is overwhelmingly Republican. He was asked a few questions about that and simply said he was a Democrat in Alabama when he defeated Republican Roy Moore in the special election for the U.S. Senate.
I don't like to brag, but I was one of probably all newspaper and other opinion writers in the state of Alabama who not only said Jones had a chance, but would likely win that election.
In the same edition of the Tri-City Ledger where I wrote I thought Jones would win Steve Flowers had a column on the same page saying he didn't have a chance winning a statewide election in Alabama as a Democrat. I had to point that out to Flowers after the election.
I do agree that Jones doesn't need to get into the impeachment debate now because the U.S. Senate has nothing to do with the impeachment process.
I've actually read other opinions that agree with me. If the House of Representatives passes articles of impeachment against President Trump it will head to the Senate and Jones will basically serve as a juror in that trial. It would be wrong for him to comment now on how he may or may not vote on an issue that is not before him.
He told the crowd in Brewton and according to reports I've read about his other town hall meetings across the state that if it comes to the Senate he will listen to the evidence and make his decision at that point.
The one thing I can say about Jones is that's he's been very consistent during his tenure as our junior U.S. Senator.
Back when Brett Kavanaugh was nominated by President Trump to the U.S. Supreme Court, Jones received similar questions on how he would vote. He said then he would listen at the Senate hearings and make a decision based on what he heard.
Republican U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, who is seeking the Republican nomination to take on Jones in 2020, challenged Jones several times to show his cards on the Kavanaugh appointment saying the people of Alabama needed to know where he stood.
Jones said the same thing then as he's saying now – he wasn't going to make up his mind until he had all the facts. He did later vote against Kavanaugh's appointment to the high court.
I read one opinion piece comparing Jones making a decision now on how he will vote if the House impeaches Trump to jurors in a trial at a local courthouse having already made their mind up on a defendant's guilt or innocence before they hear any of the evidence. I agree.
I covered a trial once where I knew the defendant was guilty because I happened to hear him confess to a sheriff's investigator. However, that confession came before Miranda rights were given and that confession was not heard by the jury. The prosector asked me what I thought after the jury went out to deliberate and I told him if I was on that jury and had to make a decision based on the evidence presented from the witness stand I'd have to vote not guilty. That's exactly what the jury did.
We all understand that it's politics. But I have to admire Jones. If politics was the driving force he would have voted for Kavanaugh and left Republicans scratching their heads about how to deal with a moderate Democrat in Alabama who supported their feelings.
Whether you agree or disagree with Jones' vote on Kavanaugh, give him credit for listening and learning before casting his vote. He deserves the same respect if an impeachment trial comes to the floor of the U.S. Senate.
