President Trump has publicly and privately offered conflicting signals about what he wants out of a Senate impeachment trial, stating in public that he would be open to something short or long. In private, he has told aides he’d like the ability to call witnesses on his behalf, the Wall Street Journal reported.
They are both wallowing in the bottomless depths of EVIL.
They connect on that.
“Mutually assured destruction,” Mr. McConnell told his colleagues.
#DitchMoscowMitch could only be so lucky.
So… Trump’s single-minded desire for revenge (and the ensuing potential for violence-by-proxy by exposing the whistleblower through testimony in a Senate trial) may derail McConnell’s careful plotting of a quick and predetermined acquittal devoid of the annoyances of evidence and witnesses.
Hmmmm…
“…allowing witnesses to speak, and possibly reveal new information, might make it more difficult to acquit Trump.”
Oh please, there’s not one damned thing any witness can say, or any combination of witnesses can say, that is going to flip 20 GOP Senators. For McConnell or any GOP official to express fear acquittal is in doubt, under any circumstances, is monumentally disingenuous.
tRump is right… his only possible avenue to removal is witnesses. SADLY he does not understand what removal means
McConnell is right. Beinging in witnesses will NOT help Trump and will put his members in a bad spot.
Some very interesting polling out from ABC/Post this am. Shows that 49% support “impeach and remove” while 46% do not. Yet, and these are the key findings…
(1) 49% think Trump “improperly pressured Ukraine” while 39% think he did not.
(2) “just over 6 in 10 say they are confident that the president will receive a fair trial. On this question, there is rare agreement across political lines, with 62 percent of Democrats, 61 percent of Republicans and 64 percent of independents expressing confidence in the proceedings.”
and
(3) “Among Democrats, 79 percent say Trump should let his advisers appear before the Senate, while 64 percent of Republicans agree. Among independents, 72 percent favor their appearance”
What this all says to me is that a good number of people have not made up their mind yet. We keep hearing that what the house has done is an “investigation” and impeachment is an “indictment” and the “trial” will be in the senate. Some folks (reading these numbers my guess is 10-15%) actually have not made up their minds, they are trying to be that hypothetical juror keeping their minds open till the evidence is all in.
What I think is that a bunch of americans, all of which have heard “innocent until proven guilty” and many of which don’t have bandwidth to obsess about impeachment, are waiting for the trial.
They see issues, they want to see the evidence, they want a fair trial, and they WANT TO HEAR FROM MULVENEY, BOLTON, ETC…
So I think how the process unfolds in the Senate has the potential to move the public on these issues. I think what McConnell is trying to do here - protect his members from hard votes and Trump from bad testimony - is simply likely to convince those whose minds are not made up that Republicans are running a sham/scam dishonest trial, and doing so because they are trying to hide Witnesess of Trumps guilt from the public.
Democrats need to - and bless him Schumer is - beat on this point and keep repeating it. Guilty people don’t want witnesses to testify, innocent people want everyone to come in and testify.
The difference between McConnell is he knows Trump is guilty as shit, so wants to avoid witnesses, Trump is so narcissistic, and frankly disillusion at this point, that he thinks he did no wrong and since FOX says he is innocent, well everyone else will too, right? If it is on FOX it must be true! Trump is delusional, McConnell is not.
Ooh, ooh, ooh, witnesses who’ll lie and break the law on the stand?
Pass the popcorn.
McConnell wants a show trial.
Trump wants a circus.
I think we know whose going to win out.
Don’t sugarcoat it now! Say what you really think.
But seriously folks I’m struck at his continuing desire to expose the whistleblower. There’s no end to his vindictiveness, of course. But the idea it could do Trump any good at this point is sheer magical thinking. That’s nothing new either. But it’s morbidly fascinating.
So they have to decide if it is more dangerous to allow witnesses and have more of the truth come out, or have to campaign against a narrative that shows that they were willing to subvert the Constitution to protect the corrupt President. (Psssst…guys you could Nixon him and pressure him to resign.)
And I’m still wondering what Trump is threatening to reveal on McConnell and Graham to keep them so firmly in line.
Well, Pelosi said he was going to self-impeach, and she was right. Maybe he’ll self-convict, too.
I say go for it, Trumpie.
I simply don’t trust what Mr. McConnell or Mr. Trump say they want or don’t want in terms of a Senate trial. The only certainty is that they’ll only try to advantage themselves in some form or another. You can take that to the bank.
Worth repeating that his desire and attempts to expose the whistle blower and expression of punishing whistle blower is also a crime that would normally be worth impeachment.
Too bad the whistleblower isn’t Barron.
If McConnell could get away with letting only Trump call witnesses, he might do it. But the last thing he wants is Democrats calling witnesses.
This witness discussion is missing a major point: Trump himself should testify!
Why aren’t the Dems making Trump’s testifying a major issue? They should get on message about this one, with ad buys out the wazoo.
This is the president of the United States. If he is so certain he has done nothing wrong and has nothing to hide, that they’re out to get him, let him pull up his socks and come before the people during his impeachment trial, testify under oath, and let the people (through their Senators) decide as per the Constitution.
Get real. He’ll never do it. So, this is an opportunity to help show what he’s really (not) made of.
[Republican senators] said allowing witnesses to speak, and possibly reveal new information, might make it more difficult to acquit Trump.
Yes, direct all attention at exposing the whistle blower’s identity. Never mind the fact that all of his/her claims have been shown to be valid and or true.
How about exposing each and every weak POS Republican Senator who is quite happily admitting to a reporter that they are quite willing to violate their oath of office and duty to the constitution to protect a corrupt and totally unworthy president.
They know Drumpf is dangerous and corrupt and incompetent and an idiot and has committed crimes, yet they still protect him.
It is sickening to read these stories. Just sickening
