How dare they play politics with a completely political process that was designed to overturn the 2016 elections because Democrats have much Butthurt?
GOP threatens to weaponize impeachment witnesses amid standoff
Republicans are threatening to weaponize a fight on Senate impeachment witnesses amid growing concerns that moderates within their caucus could help Democrats call former national security adviser John Bolton to testify.
After weeks of pledging that they would hold a quick trial with no witnesses from either side, Republicans — from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on down — are sending public warning shots that if their GOP colleagues open the door to Democratic witnesses they’ll respond in-kind, forcing votes on a slew of controversial individuals.
The pressure tactics are the latest shift in strategy as Republican leaders try to navigate the factions in their caucus, where moderates want to leave the potential for witnesses on the table and conservatives are anxious to quickly acquit President Trump.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said if GOP senators support calling people “who are unhappy about being fired,” a reference to Bolton, “then I think the president should get to call his [witnesses] and we should have votes on those.â€
“The president gets to call anybody he thinks would be good for his defense, the prosecution can call who they want, but I don’t think we should selectively call witnesses that don’t like the president,†Paul said.
Isn’t that kind of the way our system of legal justice works, as laid out by the Bill Of Rights?
The threat, Republicans hope, could help dissuade Democrats, and a handful of their Republican colleagues viewed as swing votes, from agreeing to subpoena Bolton or one of the other witnesses being requested by Democrats.
Besides, why do we actually need witnesses? Isn’t that what the House hearings were about?
And it was Schumer who, three days after Clinton’s Senate trial began, contended on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that further testimony was unnecessary. “I do not think we need witnesses,” he said, “because we have studied this for a year.”
In his final floor speech in the House on the day before that GOP-run chamber voted to impeach Clinton, Schumer sounded a dark warning. “I expect history will show that we’ve lowered the bar on impeachment so much, we have broken the seal on this extreme penalty so cavalierly, that it will be used as a routine tool to fight political battles,” the outgoing congressman and senator-elect from New York intoned. “My fear is that when a Republican wins the White House, Democrats will demand payback.”
Yeah, that was Schumer back then.
During the Clinton impeachment, the House sent over 18 boxes of evidence
This impeachment sham?
Democrats sent over a "very thin notebook"
In reality, a "We're mad about the 2016 election" note would have sufficed. That's all the Democrats ever had pic.twitter.com/pY6l42PCuQ
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) January 16, 2020
And back to Schumer
SCHUMER: "God forbid we rush through this trial, and only afterward, the truth comes out. How will my colleagues on the other side of the aisle feel if they rushed it through and then even more evidence comes out?"
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) January 16, 2020
I say the GOP should call their own witnesses, and block the Trump haters. The House Democrats set this standard by blocking GOP witnesses. Call Biden, Schiff, Nadler, Democrats who called for Trump to be impeached as soon as he won the election. Pro-Trump witnesses.
Or, just say “here’s the evidence the Democrats sent over. You have two days to read it, then we’re voting. Because there was no obstruction of the Senate, and teh other charge was just much Democrat butthurt.”
