Posted on 12/16/2019 4:43:35 PM PST by jazusamo
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told reporters Monday that the White House sees “no reason” for acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and three other witnesses to testify at a Senate impeachment trial, as requested by the top Democrat in the Senate.
“We don’t do things just because Sen. [Chuck] Schumer asks us to do them. That’s very clear,” Conway told reporters at the White House Monday evening. “Starting on Oc. 8, our White House counsel made very clear that he looks at the entire process as unconstitutional, illegitimate, and ill-conceived.”
“There is no reason for them to go and testify in the Senate trial, as far as we can see. Maybe someone will change their mind, but we haven’t done that,” Conway continued. “Why would we do that?”
Conway was asked to respond to a request from Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) that Mulvaney, former national security adviser John Bolton, senior Mulvaney adviser Robert Blair and Office of Management and Budget official Michael Duffey be called to testify as part of the Senate trial.
Schumer outlined the request in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) sent Sunday. The top Democrat also requested that the Senate issue subpoenas for a “limited set of documents” that could shed more light on the Trump administration’s decision to delay military assistance to Ukraine – an issue at the center of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.
Schumer elaborated on his request during a news conference on Monday, criticizing McConnell for what he described as a “partisan” description of the Senate trial. McConnell said in an interview last week that he would be in “total coordination” with the White House with respect to the trial.
Conway said Monday that she didn’t know if Trump and McConnell had spoken directly about a likely impeachment trial, though she noted they speak “frequently” about various issues.
The Democrat-controlled House is poised to vote later this week on two articles of impeachment against Trump stemming from his dealings with Ukraine. The House Judiciary Committee approved articles accusing Trump of abusing his office and obstructing Congress in a party-line vote last week.
The House is widely expected to impeach Trump, after which the articles would advance to the GOP-controlled Senate for a trial. Trump and his advisers view the Senate as friendly territory, where it is near certain Trump will be acquitted.
At the center of the inquiry is a July 25 call during which Trump asked Ukraine’s president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter’s dealings in Ukraine. House Democrats have accused Trump of using military aid to Ukraine and a White House meeting to pressure Kyiv for investigations that could benefit him politically.
The White House has cast the impeachment inquiry as illegitimate and politically-motivated, refusing to provide documents pursuant to subpoenas and instructing executive branch witnesses – including Mulvaney, Bolton, Blair and Duffey — not to testify.
We make mistakes, we grow apart.
I'm pretty sure he doesn't spend too much time arguing politics with her at home.
While Conway is correct in her conclusion, her stated reasoning is lacking at least.
The issue was, and is, Executive Privilege.
McConnell should read Schumer’s demands on the senate floor, and then laugh uncontrollably in Scumer’s face, while saying: are you f—k-ng me?!?!
Same rules democrats gave republicans.
Chuck Schumer opposed witnesses being called during the Clinton impeachment but claims that was different.
Repeating a lie doesn't make it true. They can call themselves the Ballerina Party and I still wouldn't honor the lie.
No, he’s right. It should be “Democrat party”, not “Democratic Party”.
Ronald Reagan always made a point of calling them the “Democrat party”, and so does Donald Trump.
And it has nothing to do with what they wish to call themselves. The issue is that the word “democratic” is an adjective. The fact that they call themselves Democrats, doesn’t make them democratic.
I believe Reagan used to ask reporters what they would think of the LA Angels referring to their stadium as Angelic Stadium.
It is pretentious.
President Trump’s explanation is more blunt. He says “I like to call it the Democrat Party because Democratic sounds too good.”
Both Presidents had the right idea - I’ll take my cue from them, not the DNC official website.
“It is the DEMOCRAT Party and there is NOTHING democratic about those b@st@rds.”
I have the same pet peeve, and so did RR and DJT
(please see my post #27 - I forgot to include you in my reply.)
It’s very easy to argue against this without it being a tit-for-tat thing. Just tell Chuckie that because the House Dems have insisted that the “evidence” presented in their hearings was overwhelming even without these witnesses, their Senate counterparts shouldn’t need any additional ones to make their case.
YOU do the research! Sadly, I am old enough to remember when the party was the Democrat Party then, along the way, some miscreant added a few letters to mislead the people into believing the party stood for something other than what their goal is.
At many of his rallies Trump has pointed out that it is correctly called the Democrat party.
The Democratic Party is an organization that has an official, LEGAL name ... and yet FR apparently has a lot of people who insist that the use of this name is “wrong.” So facts are meaningless now.
When did AOC and Joe Biden become Freepers?
Shut them out and close them down
Violates Truth-in-Advertising laws.
even better, best the trial EXCLUSIVELY on the House 300+ page impeachment report plus whatever documents the defense submits and no witnesses at all ...
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