Inside the Senate trial: McConnell stops rebel push in GOP for witnesses

Washington Compost ^ | Feb 1, 2020 | Seung Min Kim, Rachael Bade

[where's_the_Outrage?]

Inside the Mansfield Room at the Capitol, where Senate Republicans have held daily strategy sessions during President Trump’s impeachment trial, senators began walking through their arguments on why they should block witnesses from testifying in the proceedings.

But at this lunch on Thursday, Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) was getting visibly annoyed.

If this is meant to persuade me, Romney told his colleagues, it’s not helpful, according to two officials with knowledge of the exchange. The senator, a near-lone GOP voice in seeking witnesses for the trial, felt as if other Republicans were singling him out....

Trump’s acquittal was never in question in the Republican-controlled Senate, but the uncertainty about whether to call witnesses — as had been done in each of the previous 15 impeachment trials — created last-minute drama amid new revelations about Trump’s move to strong-arm Ukraine into investigating his domestic political rivals.

[where's_the_Outrage?]

Somehow the compost fails to mention that the Rats failed to call these witness when they had the chance.

[headstamp 2]

[[[[The senator, a near-lone GOP voice in seeking witnesses for the trial, felt as if other Republicans were singling him out.... ]]]]

Good.

[Erik Latranyi]

It is hilarious that now they are putting the spin to all this. They really thought they had McConnell and Trump and witnesses were a sure thing.

They underestimated the turtle and his grip on the Senate.

While we all despise McConnell for many things, his management of the Senate has been exemplary.

[TomGuy]

I suspect Schumer had some ‘no’ votes to counter any Pubbie cross-overs because the Dems did not actually want witnesses.

Pubbie-called witnesses could have opened up new cans of worms. Dems are more than content to be able to shout ‘unfair’.

[EBH]

You know what’s really, really sad in all this...

even if they had called witnesses a vast majority of America wouldn’t believe them.

All the witnesses we’ve seen in the past 3 years have pretty much committed perjury or been nothing burger tools of the democrats.

And it wouldn’t matter whether they called witnesses or not...the democrats got what they ultimately wanted...

election year talking points

[Starboard]

Somehow the compost fails to mention that the Rats failed to call these witness when they had the chance.

***************

The rag is nothing but a propaganda arm of the DNC.

[bigbob]

Mitch used the “steady pace wins the race” approach effectively by wearing the resistance down slowly but surely and not by making demands. Yertle, Master of the Senate!

[Tucker39]

The biggie is that they HAD a subpoena out foe Bolton to testify, but withdrew it for fear of what he might say. When the lowlife book leak happened they changed their tune. Solly Cholly. Too rate. You rooose!

[LS]

Yertle was brilliant here, making the right arguments to the right senators in private. We owe the Tedster, also, by coming up with the “witness trade” that he knew the DemoKKKrats would never go for.

[HighSierra5]

Wait till the impeachment vote on Wednesday. You’ll have at least five RINO senators voting against Trump. It’ll be safe for them,they think,to reveal how they feel. They basically didn’t vote for more witnesses because they were tired of sitting there for weeks. That’s all. Now they can do a drive by vote to impeach and feel that they’ll be rewarded in a squishy election in their states. Oh ,they’ll be rewarded alright.

[Dana1960]

I had this conversation with my lefty friend the other day, informing him that the GOP/Trump had called no witnesses of their own.

He countered, “Yes they did. They quoted the witnesses at the hearing.”

I said, “They were quoting the Democrats’ witnesses.”

Dead silence.

[bigbob]

So what? That was going to happen regardless.

Now - call witnesses... to a grand jury. Let Humper Biden tell his story in a federal courtroom, not in front of a bunch of grandstanding politicians.

[antidemoncrat]

“Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) was getting visibly annoyed”

And the people of Utah are visibly annoyed as some are now talking about passing a law allowing recall of sitting US Senators.

[Yo-Yo]

In past impeachment trials, the only witnesses called were ones that were previously deposed by either the House during the impeachment process, or by a Special Counsel appointed to specifically report to the House.

[Savage Beast]

McConnell is slow, but he turned out to be better than I expected.

Romney turned out to be worse.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Romney is definitely losing ground in Utah.

[Diogenesis]

Sen. “Shame of Utah” RomneyCARE deserves
his own impeachment, and then indictment
for his plundering of an entire country
through Burisma.

[KevinB]

The news, however, got Romney’s attention. Receiving testimony from Bolton was a “no-brainer,” he believed

If there's anyone who knows about no brains, it's Pierre McRomney.

[DJ Frisat]

"In past impeachment trials, the only witnesses called were ones that were previously deposed by either the House during the impeachment process, or by a Special Counsel appointed to specifically report to the House."

Thank you for beating me to it. While I can't swear on a stack of bibles that this is 100% the way it worked, that's basically my understanding, too.

[Conserv]

BS. Romney would be the only traitor....

and I’m not sure the disgusting rat is that dumb.