Mitch McConnell released a resolution to be introduced Tuesday that sets the schedule for the Senate impeachment trial.
(Trying not to laugh) The proceedings will start at 1 p.m. each day (to accommodate the Chief Justice’s day job schedule), and go for 12 hours. Rinse and repeat. Whoever said Mitch McConnell doesn’t have a sense of humor?
But seriously.
McConnell would not introduce this resolution unless he knew he had the votes, despite Chuck Schumer’s bluster about introducing amendments and forcing votes. Force all you want, Chuck, but these are going to be the rules.
Chad Pergram at Fox News has a detailed discussion of the process, but here’s the short Axios version:
Under the resolution, House Democratic managers and Trump’s defense team will each be given up to 24 hours over two days to present their cases.
- Senators will then have 16 hours to submit their questions to Chief Justice John Roberts.
- After the Q&A period, the Senate will vote on whether to consider and debate witness subpoenas.
- If the Senate votes no, no one will be permitted to call for new witnesses or documents, according to a Republican leadership aide.
- If the Senate votes yes, both sides will have an opportunity to motion to subpoena witnesses, then senators will debate and vote on them.
- Then the Senate will vote on whether to convict the president and remove him from office.
Everyone knows the key vote is whether to allow witnesses who did not already testify in the House. That’s the ballgame. That determines whether Adam Schiff gets to turn the Senate into a circus like he did the House. Once the clowns are allowed in, it’s going to be hard to get them out.
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz was on Tucker tonight and made the point that in horse trading over witnesses, Republicans inevitably will lose — Democrats will get the witnesses they want and somehow Republicans will never actually end up getting the witnesses they want. Democrats in Congress are much better at playing dirty.
It’s a fools game, but it’s one I fear scared Republicans in the Senate will play. This impeachment is a scam, an attempted political decapitation. It should be shut down after the presentation of cases and Q&A. Dismiss it or vote on it guilty or not guilty.
Take the hard vote now and Republicans will not regret it in November. Screw the base by letting Adam Schiff do to the the impeachment trial what Senate Democrats did to the Kavanaugh hearings, and Republicans will have hell to pay in November from their own base. It’s like the vote on Kavanaugh in that way.
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