(Press Release) — Precinct 3 independent Rep. Corina Magofna issued the following statement for the public comments section of the motion to dismiss hearing for Gov. Ralph Deleon Guerrero Torres in the Senate chamber Friday, April 22, 2022:
“Mr. Senate President, I’m here to set the record straight. On March 30 at approximately 2:29 p.m. I filed my Notice to Appear. Your office received this Notice. You should be aware of this Notice. Whether you to choose to acknowledge them or not, the facts are the facts.
“To the people of the CNMI, I would like to clear the record.
“I did file and submit my response to the Senate Clerk on the day it was due, at least 2 hours before the deadline. And I have a copy of the document to prove it.
“I don’t appreciate Senator Hofschneider telling the public that I ‘failed to timely file an appearance’ because it’s simply not true. In fact, the House of Representatives filed a timely Notice to Appear with our team of House Impeachment Prosecutors. And the team I’m referring are Reps. BJ Attao, Celina Babauta, Leila Staffler, Donald Manglona and myself.
“And just to be clear, I didn’t decline the appointment of Prosecutor because it was the easy way out or because I lacked the confidence to present the evidence. I declined the Senate President’s appointment because it was ‘unconstitutional’ for the Senate President to infringe or overreach into the House and dictate to the House Speaker who the Prosecutors should be. Plain and simple!
“For the Senate President to tell the House who should bring in the evidence and who should present its case — this is very disrespectful, unprofessional, and most importantly, unconstitutional.
“I’m sure the Senate President wouldn’t appreciate it if the House Speaker dictated who the Presiding Officer should be for the impeachment hearing.
“I am sure that the Governor would not appreciate it if the Speaker were to pick one of his attorneys to be the one and only counsel to appear on his behalf. The Governor is free to pick: Mr. Aguon, Mr. Birnbrich, Mr. Miller, Mr. Horey, Mr. Banes, his D.C. attorney Mr. Ross Garber and Senator Nabor’s close family friend, Ms. Alepuyo.
“So to be clear, I will not take part in the illegality of the Senate’s appointment. You like to say you must follow the Senate’s rules, well I would like to remind you that we both took an oath to uphold the Commonwealth’s Constitution.
“So for the record, I am part of the House Team of Impeachment Prosecutors. The House and the House alone should be able to pick who presents the record and presents the evidence. I hope this clears up any misunderstanding.
“Si Yu’us Ma’ase.”
Rep. Corina Magofna holds up a document while speaking before the Senate during the public comments portion of its session on Friday.
