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With several Republicans apparently succumbing on impeachment witnesses, Mitch McConnell may need to go ‘nuclear’

With several Republicans apparently succumbing on impeachment witnesses, Mitch McConnell may need to go ‘nuclear’

McConnell needs to go nuclear. Mutually Assured Destruction nuclear on witnesses — the Bidens or bust.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Mitch McConnell has told Republican Senators that he does not have the votes to block witnesses:

… at a meeting of all Republican senators late Tuesday, GOP leaders told their conference that they don’t currently have the votes to prevent witnesses from being called, people familiar with the matter said. Republicans had hoped to wrap up the trial with an acquittal of the president by this week, but Democrats have said he should appear under oath to offer a firsthand account of the president’s motivations for freezing aid to Ukraine—a matter at the heart of the impeachment case.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said the vote total wasn’t where it needed to be on blocking witnesses or documents, these people said. He had a card with “yes,” “no,” and “maybes” marked on it, apparently a whip count, but he didn’t show it to senators.

As detailed many times, the entire Democrat strategy has been to Kavanaugh the hearings, to call witnesses the House never called in order to turn the trial into a circus in which the process becomes the punishment.

The House impeachment was in bad faith, and the Kavanaughing of the hearings also is bad faith. That four Republican Senators may succumb to these tactics speaks volumes about the weakness of Republicans.

We knew it would be close, but it looks like there may be only one choice for McConnell.

Even Mitt Romney, the first link to break, has said that he thinks calling witnesses should be reciprocal. That means Joe and Hunter Biden, at minimum. But calling the Bidens in exchange for calling John Bolton and Mick Mulvaney has been rejected by Democrats.

So McConnell’s way out it to force Democrats to reject a witness deal. That way, Democrats are the ones responsible for no new witnesses. It provides cover to people like Susan Collins who may be concerned how voting against witnesses my impact their reelection chances.

McConnell needs to go nuclear. Mutually Assured Destruction nuclear on witnesses — the Bidens or bust.

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Comments

I wasn’t aware that McConnell wanted to lose the Senate. But that is what will happen if he doesn’t get his caucus to shut down this charade now. Romney is a putz, Murkowski is useless and Collins is too timid in the face of political pressure. If the GOP wants to keep stocking the judiciary for the next five years, McConnell needs to get his act together and prevent this from turning into another Kavanaugh debacle.

    notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to technerd. | January 28, 2020 at 6:27 pm

    Hear Hear!

    RINOs have always been colluding Democrat spies in GOP uniforms.

    Milhouse in reply to technerd. | January 28, 2020 at 6:44 pm

    If he doesn’t have the votes he doesn’t have the votes. How do you propose he shut it down without them?

      Olinser in reply to Milhouse. | January 28, 2020 at 6:54 pm

      Hold the vote and force them on the record. Enough with this whining to the media about what they may or may not do.

      Put them on the record voting for Bolton and against Biden and the whistleleaker, and then get rid of them next election.

        MattMusson in reply to Olinser. | January 29, 2020 at 9:04 am

        In the Immortal Words of Admiral Ackbar, “It’s a trap!”

        Go ahead, Democrats. Demand witnesses and prove to us all how stupid you really are.

      Paul In Sweden in reply to Milhouse. | January 28, 2020 at 7:04 pm

      Milhouse, You point out the ugly truth of the matter.

      Lucifer Morningstar in reply to Milhouse. | January 29, 2020 at 8:46 am

      McConnell and the Republicans cannot allow the democrats to drag out the Senate trial. So you change the rules and take the nuclear option. You then vote down any resolutions asking that Bolton or any other new witnesses be allowed. And then you immediately call for an up or down vote on the Articles of Impeachment and be done with the whole sick, sad and pathetic democratic circus in one fell swoop. And to hell with Schumer and the democrats. They’ll complain no matter what McConnell and the Republicans do. So fuck ’em all.

      And as for the RINO traitors? You make doubly damn sure they aren’t reelected at the next election cycle and get rid of them.

        You can’t do any of that if you don’t have the votes.

        And Romney cannot be threatened; he doesn’t face an election until after Trump is gone. Murkowsky is also not that threatenable; she already lost a primary and got reelected anyway, so she’s not going to be that frightened of doing it again.

    walls in reply to technerd. | January 28, 2020 at 7:03 pm

    Turtle then needs to go fusion nuclear … forget fission. I heard from a friend of a friend that Comey and Brennan are deeply involved. Subpoena Obummer, Plugs, Hunter, Comey, Brennan, Whistleblower, and the list goes on!!! Keep this going for months. Keep the VT socialist and the Indian off the campaign trail. C’mon pubbies, grow some balls for a change – instead of grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory.

      jb4 in reply to walls. | January 28, 2020 at 8:34 pm

      I am a bit perplexed at the interest in the Bidens. Everyone knows what they did – Joe Biden bragging about his quid quo pro and Hunter stating his last name was what mattered (in getting a job for which apparently only his father thinks he was qualified). What will their testimony do besides add publicity to what is already known?

      What I want to know is what is in the Inspector General’s testimony that Schiff did not turn over to the Senate and whether the whistle blower was part of a conspiracy to overthrow the elected president.

        CKYoung in reply to jb4. | January 29, 2020 at 3:19 am

        The biden issue is what kicked off this entire sham impeachment. Over the years, billions of US taxpayer money went into Ukraine. Some previous US aid money was peeled off to pay corrupt companies, who then paid corrupt cronies/family members of corrupt US politicians. democrats and GOPe’rs engaged in these schemes (not just in Ukraine, but worldwide). LTC please vindeman heard the phone call between PDJT and President Zelensky. He panicked and told eric cia-merella, who then told adam schiff. They cooked up a scheme to make it seem PDJT engaged in an illegal scheme, then launched this entire impeachment scam. So yes, we need to hear from everyone I just mentioned, including lots of others such as nancy pelosi’s husband/son, and nancy herself. To be clear, if any of the GOPe were involved, they need to be exposed as well.

        CaptScientist in reply to jb4. | January 29, 2020 at 8:09 am

        What I want to know is what is in the Inspector General’s testimony that Schiff did not turn over to the Senate and whether the whistle blower was part of a conspiracy to overthrow the elected president……..

        Are you referring to the Michael Atkinson testimony in the SCIF? That could very well end this charade right now and put schiffforbrains in silver bracelets

        I want to hear from Rudy.

        He has the receipts. And the press can’t ignore him as easily if he is called before the Senate.

      pwaldoch in reply to walls. | January 29, 2020 at 11:05 am

      That’s what the Dems want. They want to Kavanagh the Senate trial and introduce witness after witness and keep the impeachment story accusations going. With 4 squishes in the Senate they can potentially get witnesses they want to help muddy the waters even more. Ultimately they can’t win but they can keep slinging mud around that mught eventually convince somebswing voters to stay away from Trump.

    Romney is not merely a ‘putz’ – he is a rat.

    And Mcconnell is not a war-time consigliere.

    And this is war.

    Close The Fed in reply to technerd. | January 28, 2020 at 9:43 pm

    The “Majority Leader” and other GOP senators should explain to the recalcitrants that they will lose their committee seats and any chairmanships.

    That ought to do it.

      Anonamom in reply to Close The Fed. | January 28, 2020 at 9:56 pm

      Thank you for pointing out that the Speaker actually DOES have power-should he choose to use it. I get so tired of the whole limp-wristed, sighing, “Goodness, whatever can the poor man do if he lacks votes?” How in the h@ll do they think Pelosi rammed through Obamacare? I don’t like the woman’s politics, but she has the huevos that Mitch lacks.

        CommoChief in reply to Anonamom. | January 28, 2020 at 11:14 pm

        Anonamom,

        The Speaker of the House has far more individual power of office than the Senate Majority leader. Additionally each Senator holds far more power than any member of the House. As an example, under Senate rules and custom an individual Senator can block legislation from commuting to a vote; filibuster. Under the current system a determined group of four or five Senators could, with a little planning, hold the floor indefinitely. This type of individual power does not exist in the HoR.

        Yes, members of the HoR are vulnerable to having committee assignment preferences ignored as are Senators to a degree. However Senate tradition is for seniority to play a role and a majority leader defying the traditions and customs of the Senate would be endangering their own tenure as well as providing a legitimate reason for those Senators impacted to withdraw from the majority caucus.

        The possible result of your hardball with four sufficiently aggrieved RINO? They change affiliation to independent and caucus with the d and say hello to the new Senate majority leader Schumer. How many judicial appointments will that cost Trump?

        We are all frustrated with the situation. Many of us would prefer that we had 75 r Senators to the right of Barry Goldwater. Problem being each state gets two Senators and no two states are comprised of the same political make-up. It’s way easier to be a MAGA Senator from a solid red state than from some purple or blue state.

        That is why we all need to work to elect the most conservative Senator reasonably possible in our state. Collins is from Maine not Mississippi, that fact matters a great deal in terms of how electable a candidate can be statewide. Collins likely couldn’t be elected as a d in Mississippi but in Maine she is about as conservative as can be reasonably expected to be elected.

        If had a magic wand I would get rid of McConnell and run the Senate my way, but neither I, you nor McConnell has a magic wand. We can’t wish away the reality of a thin majority that, coupled with Senate rules, customs and traditions, grants Senators more flexibility than we might like from a party loyalty perspective.

          fishstick in reply to CommoChief. | January 29, 2020 at 7:15 am

          and this “wussy” crap is what allows it all to continue unabated

          IT needs to be forced, so these RINO’s finally get on record so they can no longer hide behind the anonymity of toeing the proverbial line between the two political aisles

          because when you force the issue, you will have to force them to take a political stance on a specific issue

          THAT is what will inevitably end it

          sure – the half empty view can mean these RINOs turn tail and side with the Dems for the next 6 months to 2 years

          problem for them – THAT will forever be on their record

          then when their re-election comes back around, they can never explain THIS away to their constituents, even those on the fence

          in this case – the RINOs would have to put their chips in on a losing cause, one destined to fail when the vote will be cast

          this Gang of Four will not cement their position on this losing opposition

          mailman in reply to CommoChief. | January 29, 2020 at 9:46 am

          Let them run as Independents and see how long they survive out in the wild on their own.

          Force them to make a choice. Either continue to side with their Democratic allies OR actually do their job as Republicans and oppose any and every fucking them Democrats raise in the Senate!

          CommoChief in reply to CommoChief. | January 29, 2020 at 12:13 pm

          Fishstick and Mailman,

          You each made similar comments so I am combining my response.

          First there will be a vote regarding calling witnesses. That vote will be recorded so please stop the insanity on that point.

          Second you both seem to be in favor of casting aside 4 Senators from the r caucus and/or assisting their d opponents in future elections. That will have the immediate consequence of making Schumer the Majority leader and thus making it doubtful that Trump can continue to reform the Judiciary. The longer term effect is that your abandonment of them will result in them being forced to support d priorities and policies as a matter of preserving their political career.

          Third Murkowski won election on a write in ballot, Romney is for all intents the ‘public face’ of the Mormon church and will be running in Utah. Alexander was a popular Gov and retains goodwill and support from that. So your threats against these three Senators ring hollow when viewed in the totality of their circumstances.

          That brings us to Collins. This is likely her last election cycle as a r in Maine. If she chooses to become an independent she could likely hold on for an additional cycle if she chose. It ain’t easy to be MAGA in Maine.

          Finally, wishing away a thin majority that depends on RINO votes won’t make the facts change. What will make it change is working to elect the most conservative Senators possible from each state given the political landscape.

          So the RINOs go independent. Good. That way they’ll be honest about their inclinations. It also sets them up for challenges from more conservative politicians.

    Mitch needs to be b—— slapped. But if Mitch needs to go nuclear—let’s do it.

notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital | January 28, 2020 at 6:26 pm

Non-witnesses to Non-Crimes………

A Deadly Pox on all their Houses!

An interesting problem is Bolton is covered by Executive Privilege, and there will be a court battle (which Trump can say “go ahead” after the Constition is safe). Meanwhile Hunter can be hunted. And Schiff, He who must not be named but blows whistles, etc. have no such protection.

    Paul In Sweden in reply to tz. | January 28, 2020 at 6:44 pm

    POTUS Trump has absolute right to executive privilege. Joe Biden, Hunter Biden do not have the same recourse. The Bidens can of course simply refuse to give testimony that they deem unfavorable under the fifth amendment. The way this is playing out is infuriating. The independence of the Executive Branch is non-negotiable. The idea that the senate could compel Executive Officers to testify is absurd. We are watching an attemptive legislative COUP. I am so thourouly disgusted by what I am seeing.

      The Bidens, the whistleblower, Vindman and others we would like to see testify will never testify. First they’ll plead the 5th. If the DOJ grants immunity they’ll just go to court to quash the subpoenas and run out the clock until the Senate ends the trial, one way or another.

2smartforlibs | January 28, 2020 at 6:29 pm

The house and the Senate are playing us all for fools. We still don’t have Pencil Neck’s 18th witness. When teh GOP calls witnesses they will plead the 5th. When the LOONs call it will be executive privilege. MORE WASTE OF YOUR MONEY.

    NGAREADER in reply to 2smartforlibs. | January 28, 2020 at 6:42 pm

    So they call the Biden’s as witnesses, they plead the 5th (pretty bad optics there for Uncle Joe) the Republicans offer immunity in exchange for truthful testimony. They lie, still refuse, some other maneuver?
    Your move.

      MajorWood in reply to NGAREADER. | January 28, 2020 at 9:58 pm

      All Biden has to lose is the nomination and I sort of suspect he is only in it at the point to be some sort of bargaining chip, the proverbial wooden nickel.

Paul In Sweden | January 28, 2020 at 6:32 pm

Justice Roberts addressed the senate and said words to the effect that Q&A will begin tomorrow, Wednesday. Senators are to submit questions which will be read by Justice Roberts. Justice Roberts said that it was agreed that questions should be brief so that both the reading of the question and the reply should be contained within five minutes. Justice Roberts indicated that this notion was met with resounding laughter. Dollars to Donuts senators are going to put questions to Justice Roberts that rival War and Peace. I am stocked up on Pop-Corn.

    notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to Paul In Sweden. | January 28, 2020 at 6:34 pm

    Question spineless Roberts?

    You mean they might actually ask him how he’s being blackmailed?

    I’ll never forget how the Democrat online web sites played up the fact that he might be bi or gay during his nomination…….

      smh… Wow! I do not recall what you have said but have no reason to doubt you. Can it get any worse? HELP ME! I can not turn my head away from this crap.Headline News Tomorrow. New Yorker in Sweden was found with his head exploded.

      i read and saw pic in his pass
      with a gay life he voted for same sex marriage
      his cousin made him….obama had him and told
      him so…who cares he is married adopted 2 boys
      he is catholic changed his life…but he will be repalced
      by gorsoth soon i see it coming….excuse the spelling

      Who cares? It’s the 21st century. Trump has already appointed one openly gay ambassador to Germany, Mayor Pete is running for president, and Kirsten Sinema is openly bisexual. The war is over.

      As far as I’m concerned, the rumors were just that. If he is gay or bi, as I said above, who cares?

      Let’s move on to substantive questions.

All McConnell needs to do is to call a recorded vote for witnesses; there are not many Senators who want their name on that list. Of course, McConnell was elected leader precisely because he won’t call a recorded vote, he’ll just do as he did and say he doesn’t have the votes.

Burn ’em down Mr. President, burn ’em down.

The RINO’s MUST be primaried out. All of them. Especially carpetbagger Mittens.

    rabidfox in reply to walls. | January 28, 2020 at 7:23 pm

    Mittens isn’t up for re-election for another 4 years. Trump is stuck with him for the rest of his White House tenure.

      alaskabob in reply to rabidfox. | January 28, 2020 at 7:37 pm

      Then the goal is win enough senate seats to marginalize Romney. I am amused that Romney would go for this considering his son was on some board in the Ukraine… put Mitten’s, Nancy’s, Joe’s and Johm Kerry’s sons on witness stand.

        Milhouse in reply to alaskabob. | January 30, 2020 at 11:38 pm

        No son of Romney was on any board in the Ukraine. Nor was Paul Pelosi or Chris Heinz. It’s all made-up lies that you have fallen for.

    Close The Fed in reply to walls. | January 28, 2020 at 9:46 pm

    Great, walls. Who’s running??

That Romney, oh, boy. If there were a political alternative, my bet is a lot of Americans would never again vote for a Republican. What a pack of spineless, foolish dopes. It’s lucky for them that Democrats are a cancer.

What’s this tit for tat witness dance? If Dems want to call witnesses, let them call 100 of them. Why stop at Bolton? And the Republicans get to call their own, every last one of them, from Obama down to the white house chef.

Of course, I realize the problem. Witnesses called by Republicans will all take the fifth.

And that John Bolton is really starting to get on my nerves. He’s a neo con, a negative, but I always thought he’d have sense enough to put his country about his wallet.

Well, live and learn.

Mark Levin was just reporting that there may be 7-10 Republican senators ready to vote in favor of calling witnesses. Just as I feared. McConnell has lost control of the Senate. The RINOs are about to cave AGAIN!!!!

Paul Ryan surrendered the House to the Dems and McConnell is now doing the same to the Senate. Even if THESE Republicans maintain control of the Senate after November, so what? They are worse than the Democrats!

    No. I have long thought the Republicans now resemble the Democrats of 50 years ago, as does the President. However, the judges appointed matter and that takes a Republican-controlled Senate, no matter how many RINOs there are. In fact, one worry about an extended trial is how many new judges do not get appointed before the election.

    “”They are worse than the Democrats!””

    Somebody who lives in LA County should know better. They may be yellow-bellied cowards who will stab you in the back for a $5 campaign contribution, but they are not worse than Democrats – or do you still think that Republicans passed Obamacare, or any of the other really putrid socialist power grabs we’ve had to deal with over the past century? Sorry, Phil, I hate them as much as you do, but unless we do away with our political system, we have to deal with the voters and politicians that we have. Wishing that they’d go away doesn’t work. And trying to elect conservatives in places like Maine or Alaska (and, apparently Utah) hasn’t worked up to now, and probably won’t work this year either. Remember that Murkowski wasn’t the Republican nominee in Alaska – the voters elected her as a write-in. That sort of stupidity isn’t going to be cured by either of us. It would be nice if McConnell wielded the kind of power you seem to think he has, (and I agree that he could be more aggressive,) but other than maybe withholding committee assignments, there really isn’t much he can do. The RNC could threaten to withhold campaign funds, but we don’t have any control of them, either.

walkerparkway | January 28, 2020 at 8:35 pm

This is one bad idea. However, has McConnell considered calling for other witnesses who were also in the room that were not the note takers. Perhaps even from Zelinsky. I have a feeling they would refute (under oath) what the Times has report about Bolton’s recollection. That would clearly make it a “he said, he said” situation, with a fired National Security Advisor in the hot seat for using a grudge to go after the President. All that said, I tend to believe the latest WSJ editorial thinking that Bolton would NOT do this to Republicans or the President, no matter how bitter he may feel about his experience. After all, it isn’t the first time the Republicans have given him the shaft (recall when Voinivich was instrumental in deep-sixing his confirmation as the UN Ambassador under Bush 43).

    I’m more and more getting to a final default position that it really doesn’t matter what they do. It’ll only extend this farce, and then at the end they’ll still have to vote to convict, and then he’ll be acquitted. In the final analysis, all they’ve done is solidify and expand Trump’s voter base, and maybe arouse and incite more people to go out in November and make sure they can’t do it again by taking away the House.

well bolton will be stop by trump
excutive order….court will take longtime
paul ryan is with mitten and tells him
what to do…he is close to nancy
tomney is a snake utah will throw him out
buthe does.nt care

I caught myself yelling at the radio today when Ben Shapiro was talking about letting the Senate just give up and call Bolton as a witness, which of course would solve all the controversy and allow the final vote to happen without any more witnesses, honest.

Really, I love Ben, but sometimes he’s completely naive.

Threaten to call pelosi’s son. Drag her and the kid into the farce.

Well,. Collins, Murkowski and Romney have but one power:
The deciding vote.
And, they hold it against us at every turn.
Democrats all, in my opinion.
All we need do is elect two more Republican Senators, and they are relegated to the dust-bin where they belong.

Don’t even do a 1 to 1 witness deal. Call Hunter and Joe Biden, the whistleblower, and everyone else that you want to question. The Republicans never got to call anyone in the House.

    I’d love to see the republicans do to the democrats what was done to them in the house. Yeah, you can have your witnesses but you can only ask a couple of questions and WE decide what you’re allowed to ask, AND we decide what they’re allowed to answer. People seem to have forgotten what a farce the so-called “hearings” in the house turned out to be. They need a strong reminder.

The very fact that Republicans would buckle on this gives legitimacy to the impeachment charade. That’s the real problem. Had they stood firm, they would have fired a shot against the whole circus. This way, if they go this way, says ‘maybe Trump is guilty.” Muppets.

    Good point, which is why Dershowitz smartly said that this is not impeachable even if Trump did exactly what the NY Times claimed Bolton wrote.

The final vote isn’t until Friday. This is Tuesday.

    Paul In Sweden in reply to Whitewall. | January 28, 2020 at 10:08 pm

    Yes. The result is known. This is terribly painful. I do not remember this much upset during the Clinton impeachment and I was too young to understand the Watergate and Nixon hearing. I want all this to stop. Enough is enough.

Alrighty then. 1. Whistleblower
2. Schiff
4. Nadler
3. Joe Biden
4. Hunter Biden
5. Nancy Pelosi

This is a partisan political act; let’s stop pretending otherwise. They want to play? We’ll bring in the House leadership clown car and put them all under oath.

    Paul In Sweden in reply to Sanddog. | January 29, 2020 at 1:45 am

    I am with you and your list but questions have been raised as to Schiff being called as a witness. I cannot see a legal impedimate to calling Schiff. Is this true? Practically it ain’t going to happen but it would be a hell of a show. Nothing would please me more than Schiff tied to a rail and brought to the witness stand.

    The Senators do get a period to ask questions of the House managers and Trump’s defense team.
    I would go for some of the “peak groan” questions.
    Like there are memes in the Democratic side of the universe that Trump did “treason” with the Russian. This even shows up in some of the support documents sent over by from the House.
    Ask Schiff about them this way.

    Democrats’ Dubious Impeachment Subtext of Treason
    https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/01/28/democrats_dubious_impeachment_subtext_of_treason_142243.html

Whatever. The Quisling Republicans are fools for doing this, but there won’t be any repercussions. There never are. It would be tacky to point out that a significant percentage of the Republican Party have only themselves to blame for letting the Dems steal about three Senate seats in 2018, including Alabama – where no Democrat should ever even have gotten close. Still think that Judge Moore was just too controversial to go vote for?

I have no real problem with calling witnesses. Mulvaney would hurt the Democrats, Bolton would very likely not help them at all, and bringing in the Bidens, Schiff, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, etc. could be lots of fun.

This is all show. There will be no witnesses. The vote on Friday will be 53-47 no witnesses.

    I hope you’re right. We’ll know in a few days. Once again, there are four Democrats who are really dealing with the pucker factor of not being able to get out and campaign right through the Iowa caucus.

The GOPe is more of an existential threat to our country than sanders. Traitors always are.

I as much figured these people couldn’t get on the same page.

Barry Soetoro | January 29, 2020 at 5:55 am

If Mittens and other pseudocons want true reciprocity in summoning witnesses, the House Democrats called 18 in their sham investigation while Trump wasn’t allowed to call any. Thus, Trump is owed 18 witnesses if he wants them.

The proper course is to acquit Trump and dismiss the articles with prejudice for failure of the House to charge a crime, and for depriving Trump of his natural civil rights. This would, hopefully, set a precedent informing future Houses to never repeat such a coup attempt. Graham should then initiate an investigation of the coup attempt in the Senate Judiciary Committee, in which he subpoenas all necessary witnesses to testify in public hearings.

    Watching the polls if any such witnesses take the Fifth could be interesting. As it is, I suspect Republican turnout this Fall will be huge and the longer this is dragged out the larger it may get.

Paul In Sweden | January 29, 2020 at 6:25 am

There is NO resiprosity.There is no horse trade here. Stop the stupid talk. The Democrats can call Bolton, Pence, Guiliani etc, etc, etc… It does not matter. The senate has no authority. It goes to SCOTUS and SCOTUS will of course uphold Executive Privilege. Why these talking heads keep talking this idiot talk escapes me. STOP.

Then… We do not know what Trump will do. Trump could throw a FF and wave Executive Privilege. This is such a mess. I want some order and sanity.

What I can never figure out is, the Democrats lied so much with their impeachment evidence yet they never lose a Democrat vote, never even a threat to lose a vote. Republicans watch the charade, know they’re lying, and want to join them for witnesses. Why are Republicans so weak kneed?

I have a theory, many of them run against an incumbent Democrats as a Republican, and win, but they’re really not Republicans they’re just the other party. If they don’t recognize they’re being Kavanaughed, once again, and go along with it. there’s little hope of them ever finding the common sense gene.

    txvet2 in reply to bflat879. | January 29, 2020 at 4:55 pm

    “they never lose a Democrat vote”

    About 25% of the registered voters at Trump’s NJ rally were Democrats. Don’t take their word that they’re not losing voters.

The Bidens will invoke Executive Privilege and plead the 5th as will any witness the GOP call.

The professor nails it:

“ So McConnell’s way out it to force Democrats to reject a witness deal. That way, Democrats are the ones responsible for no new witnesses. It provides cover to people like Susan Collins who may be concerned how voting against witnesses my impact their reelection chances.”

It’s no more complicated than this. Schumer is holding a losing hand, dealt him by the House Dems. The final outcome of the trial is certain: acquittal. At this point, the only option for Schumer is to whine about Republicans protecting the President by refusing witnesses. Cocaine Mitch knows this.

Lucifer Morningstar | January 29, 2020 at 8:38 am

That four Republican Senators may succumb to these tactics speaks volumes about the weakness of Republicans.

No, it doesn’t “speak volumes about the weakness of Republicans”. It speaks volumes about the same traitor RINOs that constantly betray their party and side with the even more traitorous democrats.

They should be informed that they are to toe the party line or remove the “R” from after their names and find a political party more to their liking.

There will never be any cover for Mittens, etc, but I live in Georgia so I don’t have a vote.

I don’t understand why Mitch can’t exercise some discipline on these four like the Democrats would. You don’t see these kind of wobbly Democrats.

Mitch McConnel is no Slim Pickens!

Why not Obama, what did you know and when did you know it. Did you know about Hillary? Did you know about Holder? So, you were aware of the spying on trump? Why didn’t you warn him so that he could be wary of what he discussed. You put an election over the security of the Nation?

The Republicans should create a list of very lobbyist, every dirty dealer, every influence peddler, and every crony, wife, nephew or childhood friend who has been getting money based on a relationship with a Senator, and submit that as the list of potential witnesses.

Let the Senators peruse that list, find all of those familiar names, and then decide if they want to call witnesses that would open up the biggest can of worms in US history.

See if you can find the errors in this AP story ..
https://apnews.com/c565f440467e4fd5cd6a11d7c8abc842

THE FACTS: Trump was not under investigation before he took office.

In fact, Trump says he was told that directly and repeatedly by then-FBI Director James Comey. Comey has said the same publicly.

The FBI counterintelligence investigation dubbed Crossfire Hurricane was underway when Trump took office, but that was into whether his campaign more generally coordinated with Russia to tip the election. Agents were also looking criminally at several Trump aides, but that’s different from Trump being under investigation.

Even if Bolton testifies to this claim, so what? Quid pro quo is part of everyday diplomacy. Enough of this goat rodeo.

People who haven’t researched the Ukraine Hoax and understand it don’t know how much this would blow up if the Whistleblower is called.

As is said above by another commenter. We all now what the Biden’s did. The really damaging truth is what the Whistleblower knows and who he knows that were in on this with him including Schiff.

Even if he pleads the 5th the stupid game that he anonymous will end and he and his plot can be openly discussed which will be devastating to Democrats.

to offer a firsthand account of the president’s motivations for freezing aid to Ukraine
Since when is motive an element of a crime?

    Milhouse in reply to GWB. | January 30, 2020 at 11:57 pm

    Motive is very often an element of a crime. There are many crimes in which the motive is a key element, and therefore must be found by the jury beyond reasonable doubt.

If the senate is going to vote on whether to have witnesses, shouldn’t Bernie and Liz recuse themselves? They have an obvious conflict in voting for testimony that may be detrimental to Joe Biden, their chief primary opponent.