Republicans are continuing their efforts to plot a defense of President Donald Trump ahead of a Senate impeachment trial, the parameters of which are set to be formally developed after Congress returns from its currently ongoing holiday break. Leaders like Mitch McConnell have explicitly pledged not to be an “impartial juror” during the trial, and some Republicans are falling in line with demands for a quick move to either completely dismiss the articles of impeachment or acquit the president, who’s been charged with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. When Republicans have acknowledged the possibility of witness testimony, they’ve suggested they’d wield that as a political weapon rather cede to examining the facts.
McConnell said recently:
‘Do we know enough? Have we learned enough after listening to all this to go on and vote on the two very weak articles of impeachment? Or do we want to have a show trial in which both sides try to embarrass the other and put on a, you know, an embarrassing scene, frankly, for the American people? Obviously, I think we’ve heard enough. After we’ve heard the arguments, we ought to vote and move on.’
In other words — he is still, fundamentally, opposing the basic step of calling witnesses as part of the impeachment trial, deriding that idea as forming a “show trial.”
The witnesses that Democrats want to hear from include figures who have firsthand knowledge of the president’s plot to get dirt on his domestic political opponents from Ukraine. Those targets include former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and others, whose previously demanded testimonies have been blocked by the White House.
McConnell has discussed the possibility of ending up calling witnesses for the trial, but he made it abundantly clear that he’d not be letting the process play out without interference. At this point, they’re not even trying to hide their bias, apparently. He explained:
‘Well, if we go down in the witness path, we’re going to want the whistleblower. We’re going to want Hunter Biden. You can see here that this is the kind of mutual assured destruction episode that will go on for a long time.’
Similarly, during a recent Fox News interview, prominent Trump ally Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) threateningly commented:
‘If they want a trial, my God, we are going to have a trial.’
What kind of exoneration for the president does he think that a trial would reveal that’s not already out? There remains absolutely no evidence for the claims of Biden corruption that underlined Trump’s desperate gambit for damaging intel.
Going forward, Sens. Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Ron Johnson (Wi.) have said that Democrats’ proposal for the timeframe of phase one of a trial seemed reasonable, although other lower ranking GOP Senators have made their ongoing opposition to due process abundantly clear. Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) said he’s “ready to vote now” and Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) claimed that the “whole idea of the impeachment inquiry was ill-conceived … so I think the quicker it can be done the better,” while Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Kevin Cramer (N.D.) have both also said they want as short of a trial as possible. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is delaying transmitting the impeachment case to the Senate while Dems demand fairness.
