Fearing Democrats losing control of the impeachment fiasco, 69-year-old Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) demanded that he be allowed to call more witnesses at the upcoming trial. Releasing a 650-page report of their impeachment investigation yesterday, Democrats accused Trump of bribery and fraud, insisting beyond-a-reasonable doubt that they proved their impeachment ca se against 73-year-old President Donald Trump. Tomorrow, Democrats expect to take their case to the full House where Democrats hope to have a united front to approve two articles of impeachment. Democrats are so convinced they have and open-and-shut case against Trump, Schumer’s trying to get 77-year-old Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to start fact-finding again at a Senate trial. McConnell responded to Shumer’s demands with a resounding “no!”
Schumer can’t have it both ways: Insisting Democrats have an unassailable impeachment case against Trump, while, at the same time, seeking more documents and witness testimony at trial. House Democrats and Schumer weren’t happy with Rep. Jeff Van Drew (D-N.J.), refusing to back the impeachment and bolting the Democrat Party Dec. 15. House Judiciary Chairman Jerold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said last years there would be no impeachment against Trump unless it was bipartisan. Well, Nadler has not one Republican backing Democrats’ impeachment, with Van Drew rejecting the impeachment case. House Speaker Nancy Pelos (D-Calif.)i has boasted about Democrats’ impeachment case against Trump, echoed by Nadler and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), insisting their case is clear-and-convincing. Yet Schumer wants more witnesses and evidence.
Calling Schumer’s demands for more witnesses and documents a “fishing expedition,” McConnell won’t compromise with Democrats demands to extend the impeachment trial. McConnell wants to make quick work of what he sees as the most lopsided partisan witch-hunt in U.S. history. Democrats have tried to impeach Trump from the day he took office, Jan. 20, 2017. Before that, the FBI, under direction of the former Obama administration, ordered a counterintelligence investigation into Trump campaign aides, alleging Russian ties. When 75-year-old Special Counsel Robert Mueller completed his 22-moth, $45 million investigation March 23, Democrats were left holding the bag. Mueller gave Democrats no impeachable offenses other than completing his work, nothing more he could do. Democrats took that to mean they should press on with an impeachment inquiry.
McConnell’s concept of an impeachment trial is to let Senators review House Democrats’ ironclad impeachment case, evaluate it then vote. Since Democrats have already overdosed the public on their impeachment case, there’s nothing left to do other than vote. Schumer wants a Democrat spectacle, baiting McConnell by saying, “what are Republicans trying to hide?” Schumer and his Democrat colleagues in the House have already made their bulletproof case against Trump. There’s nothing left to say with such and open-and-shut case. Senators must now evaluate Democrats’ impeachment case, then vote. McConnell doesn’t envision that this will take too much time. Expected to approve articles of impeachment tomorrow, McConnell should have Democrats case on his lap in the next few days. With the holidays coming, McConnell sees no Senate trial until after the New Year.
McConnell won’t let House Democrats hijack the Senate into another “fishing expedition,” telling Schumer he’s already made his best impeachment case. “So now, the Senate leader would apparently like our chamber to do House Democrats’ homework for them. And he wants to volunteer the Senate’s time and energy on a fishing expedition to see whether his own ideas could make Chairman Schiff’s sloppy work more persuasive that Chairman Schiff’himself bothered to make it,” McConnell said. Schumer’s only talking points are confined to, “What are they hiding?” McConnell told Schumer that he will not allow Democrats to waste more Senate time on false promises to convict Trump of high-crimes-and-misdemeanors. McConnell won’t let Democrats re-litigate their case against Trump because the current case doesn’t meet the Constitutional grounds for impeachment or anything else.
Nadler’s second-in-command on the Judiciary Committee Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said it best that the Judiciary Committee presented undeniable evidence that Trump committed “high-crimes-and-misdemeanors,” meeting the Constitution’s grounds for impeachment. Schumer apparently hasn’t listened to the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees that have boasted they have an “open-and-shut” case against the president. Schumer fears the obvious: That Trump’s about to be acquitted in the Senate in short order. If the Intelligence and Judiciary committee presented incontrovertible evidence against Trump, what possible reason does Schumer wish for more docs and witnesses? “All of this is backwards, what’s up is down and down is up. We’re more Alice in Wonderland than we are the House of Representatives,” said Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), rejecting Schumer’s new plan.
