Tag: McConnell sham trial

Dems unload ‘overwhelming’ impeachment case on the Senate — even as they press for more

House managers work to balance their case with urgent pleas for new witnesses and documents.

And on the first day, Democrats unleashed the flood.

One by one, the seven House impeachment prosecutors seeking President Donald Trump’s removal from office reconstructed a case against the president so dense — at times, head-scratchingly complex — that it was hard for senators new to the material to keep up.

After a lofty introduction by the House’s lead manager, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Democrats shed any pretense of offering a streamlined, made-for-TV version of events meant to captivate the Senate or the nation. For much of the day, they cast aside any attempt to make a narrowly tailored case to Republicans that they should support calls for additional witnesses. Continue reading.

The Memo: Day One shows conflicting narratives on impeachment

The Hill logoThe third impeachment trial of an American president got underway in earnest on Tuesday, amid an atmosphere of instant recrimination and polarization.

One small exception came when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made a last-minute concession, announcing that each side would have three days — not two as he had previously asserted — to make its case.

But that was a rare, and relatively minor, shift from McConnell, who has previously said that he would coordinate the conduct of the trial with the White House. Continue reading.

1999 Trial vs. McConnell Rules

Mitch McConnell is trying to gaslight the American people. He wants us to believe that his ridiculously unfair, biased impeachment rules follow past precedent and he’s repeatedly lied that his procedures mirror the 1999 impeachment trial.

McConnell: “And all we are doing here is saying we are going to get started in exactly the same way that 100 senators agreed to 20 years ago.”

McConnell: “What was good enough for President Clinton in an impeachment trial should have been good enough for President Trump.”

That’s a lie. Here are the facts: Continue reading “1999 Trial vs. McConnell Rules”

Senate blocks push to subpoena Bolton in impeachment trial

The Hill logoSenate Republicans blocked an attempt by Democrats to include a deal on former national security adviser John Bolton‘s testimony in the impeachment trial rules.

Democrats forced a vote in the early morning hours Wednesday on calling Bolton to testify, but it was tabled, effectively pigeonholing it, in a 53-47 party-line vote.

The proposal from Democrats would have inserted language into the trial rules resolution, which is expected to be passed later on Tuesday, to subpoena Bolton. The failed vote followed a similar unsuccessful effort to subpoena acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), speaking for the first time from the Senate floor, said Republicans and Trump were “afraid” to let Bolton testify because “they know he knows too much.” Continue reading.