Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) did an interview on Sean Hannity’s show Thursday night and did not mince words.
He told the Fox News host that when it came to the Senate impeachment trial, there would be “total coordination” between Senate Republican leaders, the White House counsel’s office, and President Trump’s attorneys:
[McConnell] explained that the articles of impeachment would be different from ordinary legislation that makes its way from the House, in that: “We have no choice but to take it up. But we’ll be working through this process hopefully in a fairly short period of time, in total coordination with the White House counsel’s office and the people who are representing the president, in the way all of the Senate.””I’m going to take my cues from the president’s lawyers,” said McConnell, who added that a trial would likely take place early next year if the House voted to impeach Trump before its members went home for the holidays.
Watch this segment of the interview below:
McConnell was basically saying what everyone already knows, that he’ll be working closely with the White House’s team of lawyers so everyone is on the same page when it comes to impeachment strategy.
No big deal, right? Wrong.
Democrats – and the mainstream media, naturally – absolutely erupted over the news, treating McConnell’s remarks as though he was violating the Constitution:
“He’s working hand in hand with the White House, with the President’s attorney, and yet we’re supposed to expect him to manage a fair and impartial trial?” said Florida Democratic Rep. Val Demings when asked about McConnell’s remarks. “I think he should recuse himself.”Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington called the coordination “ridiculous.””I think it is outrageous for the chief juror who is organizing the trial to be coordinating with the defendant,” Jayapal told reporters.
Per Axios, other House Democrats also expressed concerns over what McConnell told Hannity, but didn’t go as far as demanding he recuse himself:
I think it was pretty bad for who is essentially the foreman of the jury to announce the verdict. The idea that he is working like that is pretty shameful,” said Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, per the Post.”It is incumbent on every Senator to ensure that the impeachment trial not become a farce. That depends on whether 4 Republicans will stand up against a ridiculously quick process. Right now, you have head juror McConnell proudly promising that it will be over before it starts,” tweeted Rep. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).
As far as hyperventilating news outlets go, CNN predictably took the lead and the story was big news on several of their shows Friday, including on their “Outfront” and “New Day” programs.
Perhaps the most hysterical (almost quite literally) among all the CNN reporters who talked about the news was overnight anchor John Vause, who looked like he was about to jump through the screen in outrage.
After playing the clip of McConnell talking to Hannity, Vause exclaimed “so much for checks and balances and an impartial trial. This is like the jury chairman admitting he’s taking his orders from the defendant’s attorneys.” His liberal guest nodded her head in agreement, and as she echoed his point in her own rant, Vause was shaking his head in disgust.
So much for balanced reporting and impartial journalists.
Unfortunately, the clip isn’t embeddable but you can watch the two minute segment here.
The panic was so widespread amongst the Usual Suspects that former Sen. Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) was asked to weigh in Thursday night. He insinuated in his original comments that what McConnell was doing was not appropriate:
Hours later, however, Daschle clarified what he told Axios after receiving a friendly reminder from his former staff members about how things were coordinated between his office and the White House during Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial:
Nevertheless, the outrage machine stayed in full tilt boogie all day long, and it will remain that way, because this is the modus operandi of the Democrat/media industrial complex. Here’s how it works:
The media/Dems rush to the cameras to declare whatever was said to be “disturbing” or “unlawful” or “hateful.”
Word spreads like wildfire on social media by these same Democrats and/or their handlers and supporters.
The mainstream media amplifies it with breathless “news” coverage for hours/days on end, talking about how we need a “national conversation” or how “Republicans should repudiate” their fellow Republican who said the allegedly offensive remarks, etc.
But then the narrative gets destroyed when we find out what the Republican said was much ado about nothing. By that point, however, it doesn’t matter if corrections or retractions are issued because by then the damage has been done.
Which was the whole point of the exercise to begin with.
This happens over and over again, as “bombshell” after “bombshell” ultimately ends up being a big nothingburger. And yet the media wonders why so many people don’t trust them?
Let’s also pause for a moment and reflect on how utterly laughable it is for partisan Democrats who have banged the impeachment drum for three years to feign outrage over McConnell’s lack of impartiality.
This is especially hilarious considering several of the Democratic candidates who are running for president have called for Trump’s impeachment, including almost all of the Senators in the race.
That doesn’t sound like impartiality to me, does it you? I mean by Rep. Demmings’ standards, Sens. Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders should also recuse themselves from the Senate trial. Right?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If Democrats didn’t have double standards they’d have no standards at all.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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