GOP-led Tennessee Senate expels Democrat convicted of fraud

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Republican-led Tennessee Senate voted Wednesday to remove Democratic Sen. Katrina Robinson from office because of her recent wire fraud conviction, the first time the chamber has removed a senator since at least the Civil War. She angrily denounced her expulsion as a “procedural lynching.”

The criminal case against Robinson, a Memphis lawmaker, involves federal grant money at a school for health care school workers she operated in the city before she was elected to the Senate. Robinson and other Democrats called her expulsion premature, noting that many of the original charges were dropped and she hasn’t been sentenced yet on the two remaining counts.

“While the expulsion of a Senator for the first time in history was not something any of us wished to see, it was a necessary action,” said Senate Speaker Randy McNally in a statement after the vote. “The integrity of the Senate is of paramount importance.”

Robinson, who is Black, argued before the 27-5 vote to expel her that she had been unfairly judged by the white-majority chamber. She called it a “procedural lynching,” prompting cheers of support that the Republican speaker gaveled down. Some of her supporters in the gallery were in tears and others stood in solidarity.

“I feel beat up standing in front of you guys,” Robinson said. “And really I didn’t prepare any words because there are no words for what this is.”

Sen. John Stevens, a Republican from Huntington, said Robinson had been judged in a courtroom by her fellow citizens.

“They determined she violated a criminal statute. A federal judge did not disagree with that determination. How can we demand that citizens respect the integrity and reputation of the Senate if we disrespect them by ignoring their determinations?”

Prosecutors...