Shorter Pelosi “Sorry Mitch, but I’m not giving you your balls back yet.”
We’re actively seeking out the information. A lot of people are passively receiving whatever info is presented on various news shows or social media, which too often either practice both-siderism or outright misinform.
I’m curious what will happen if McConnell gets the votes to change the rules, so that the House no longer need to sent the articles of impeachment officially in order to begin the trial (or dismiss the charges).
That is McConnell’s only real power, and I think it is a bluff, although I can’t back up my position with analysis.
Senate would have to invoke nuclear option overriding the 67 vote requirement to implement a senate rules change, and MM doesn’t have the GOP votes to do that. Also, John Roberts might choose to not show up for a senate trial started under false pretenses.
Last I heard, Graham was suggesting they re-write the rules to deny the articles before they’re even delivered. Don’t know what came of that, but yeah, they really don’t intend to do anything about what’s been revealed in the interest of maintaining their power.
Gotta snuff out the torches and get these lawless bastards off the island.
“Leader McConnell has insisted that the approach under consideration is identical to those of the Clinton trial and that ‘fair is fair."
Great ! When does the Independent Prosecutor seat his Grand Jury & start subpoenaing everyone related to Trump, Rudy, Bolton, Don McGahn, & everyone else who ever spoke about Ukraine ?
You know, all things being identical & fair.
I suggest there will be no independent prosecutor. I suggest there will be no hearings. There will be a vote to suppress the articles without review and continue loading the bench with Federalist judges.
What Nancy wants and what the American people want is irrelevant to these guys.
How do you hold a trial when you do not officially have in your possession what the House has accused the President of doing? It seems the only thing McConnell might do absent receipt of the impeachment articles is to vote on some sort of perfunctory dismissal of whatever MIGHT be forthcoming from the House. Sort of like Ford’s pardon of Nixon for any crimes he MIGHT have committed during his Presidency.
“We don’t officially know for sure what it is Trump is accused of, but we hereby declare him acquitted.”
Yeah, that’ll work, I guess.
Really doesn’t matter, Stevie. They don’t care about process. They just want to shut it down.
At which point Pelosi says “Here are the House articles of impeachment. I read somewhere you acquitted the President of something, not sure what though. Anyway, here you go, now do your mandated Constitutional duty and hold a trial. You’ve been served.”
I agree, but at least temporarily, the Repub party is the Trump party. McConnell will remain loyal to Trump until that changes. When that changes, McConnell will betray Trump and continue backing the party. He is that shameful.
That would require changing the Constitution.
Well, let’s go to the video tape:
The nuclear option is a parliamentary procedure that allows the United States Senate to override a standing rule of the Senate, such as the 60-vote rule to close debate, by a simple majority of 51 votes, rather than the two-thirds [supermajority] (Supermajority - Wikipedia) normally required to amend the rules.
The option is invoked when the majority leader raises a point of order that contravenes a standing rule, such as that only a simple majority is needed to close debate on certain matters.
The [presiding officer]
(Presiding Officer of the United States Senate - Wikipedia)
denies the point of order based on Senate rules, but the ruling of the chair is then appealed and overturned by majority vote, establishing new precedent.
In my view, McConnell has already conceded a lot, and I’m not sure why nobody recognizes this: he has agreed to proceed pursuant to the rules adopted during the Clinton trial, i.e., both sides will argue to the Senate the respective positions, and when that’s complete, the Senate will agree on rules regarding any additional information (witnesses and documents) that may be necessary.
I see nothing wrong with that from the Dems’ perspective. Let’s get the arguments out there, and let the vulnerable Repub Senators vote to preclude Bolton. Pretty cool from the Dems’ point of view. I think Nancy should send the Articles over.
Uhm didn’t the Speaker(s) of the house fail to live up to their own “purity” test? Grinch, Livingston, and Hastert all had their own problems with sex scandals. They thought that Denny would save them being the upright wrestling coach from the Midwest, well that didn’t work out the way that they hoped.
As to bets, I’d wager she’s great at poker. Wouldn’t want to play against her, that’s for sure.
MM has conceded nothing and I’m not sure why you don’t understand this. Under those rules opening statements may be heard, then an immediate motion to dismiss may be voted on. This did not happen in the Clinton trial because the trial was a political embarrassment to Clinton and the GOP-majority senate wanted that trial to proceed. This 2020 GOP-majority senate does NOT want a real trial.
She doesn’t have to do anything she feels undermines our national interest and the Constitutional balance of powers. That’s the difference between a brilliant Speaker of the House who operates from a historic legal perspective and a total political hack like McConnell.
Make Trump squirm like the Iranians did last night. Make Republicans go forward with their kangaroo, Russian-style Senate trial without any witnesses or documents allowed to be placed in evidence.
The entire world politic will cry “foul” over this McConnell ploy. And Trump’s standing as a leader will further be shred into tatters, along with the GOP’s claims of being a Law and Order party.
Not that Moscow Mitch cares, but there will be protests at his offices here in Louisville today.
Off topic . What happened to the survey that was on this blog? It seem strange that there are polls being cited about tRumps handling of the Iran Crisis that he created but some sites have removed polling like this one. Could it be that public opinion is being manipulated or maybe they just don’t want to pay blogs to allow polling on the site. Just asking.
