Congressman Gary Palmer (AL-06) on Tuesday interviewed with Talk 99.5’s “Matt & Val Show,” blasting congressional Democrats’ current effort to convict former President Donald Trump in a Senate impeachment trial as unconstitutional.

The House of Representatives, on a largely party-line vote, voted to impeach Trump when he was still in office following the January 6 rioting and violence at the Capitol. The sole charge was “inciting violence against the Government of the United States.”

Palmer at the time voted against impeaching Trump; while the Central Alabama congressman has said that he believes Trump was partially responsible for what occurred on January 6, Palmer said that “a vote on an article of impeachment one week before a presidential transition only serves to intensify division and anger.”

In the same remarks, Palmer also raised concerns with the process — or total lack of a process — used to impeach Trump ahead of his leaving office on January 20. For the first time in American history, there was no inquiry held ahead of impeaching the president, nor was Trump given the ability to defend himself in the House.

Now, the Senate is set to mark another historic first — the impeachment trial of a private citizen who finished his term of office. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) raised a formal objection to this point ahead of senators being sworn in for the trial on Tuesday, arguing that the Constitution does not allow for impeachment proceedings against someone who has already left office.

Paul’s objection failed, although 44 of his Republican colleagues voted to sustain his point of order, including Senators Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).

The House did not send the article of impeachment to the Senate until Monday, five days after Trump had ceased to be president.

Palmer on Tuesday morning continued to denounce the process being utilized by Democrats. He also spoke about the fact that Chief Justice John Roberts has declined to preside over the impeachment trial; the Constitution mandates that the chief justice preside over the impeachment trial of a sitting president. Senate President Pro Tem Patrick Leahy (D-VT) plans to preside over Trump’s trial.

“[M]y perspective is that this is not a constitutional exercise,” said Palmer, the fifth-highest ranking Republican in the House. “President Trump is no longer in office. And it’s my reading of the Constitution he’s not subject to being impeached.”

“So, I think what you’re seeing here is a political exercise, Val,” he continued. “They want to try to impose upon him some punitive measure that will prevent him from running for office again, because I think they see him as the political force that he is — and they fear him.”

Co-host Matt Murphy then outlined his belief that Democrats are willfully ignoring the Constitution by holding the impeachment trial because of political calculations.

“Well, Matt, I’ve told you this before: the left thinks the average American is stupid,” Palmer lamented. “They have a complete disregard for the Constitution. We’ve seen it play out time and time again.”

“The whole impeachment exercise in the House this last time was totally lacking in due process. There was no opportunity for the president to offer a defense, to have anyone speak on his behalf other than the members on the floor. It was more an inquisition than it was an impeachment,” he added. “And as I said before, this is not about a true impeachment process. It’s all political. And it will not succeed in the Senate. There’s not going to be two-thirds of the Senate that will vote for this. I think there’s serious questions constitutionally about whether or not they can even have the trial in the Senate because the chief justice has refused to preside, as mandated by the Constitution. So, everybody needs to understand what this is. And I don’t care what your view of President Trump was or is or will be. Right now what matters is ‘do we have constitutional government?’ And I’ve raised some strong questions about whether or not we do.”

Palmer subsequently reiterated, “There’s no constitutional mechanism for them (the Senate) to conduct a trial the way they’re planning to do it.”

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn