FILE PHOTO: U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) addresses reporters after the weekly senate party caucus luncheons at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., July 23, 2019. REUTERS/Eric Thayer
Trump and his House Republican proxies have been demanding that the Senate turn the impeachment trial into a circus, but Senat Republicans are saying no.
Politico reported:
“You got two different bodies here,” Graham, a stalwart Trump ally, told reporters on Thursday. “Are we going to start calling House members over here when we don’t like what they say or do? I don’t think so.”
Senate GOP leaders have signaled they intend to defend Trump wholeheartedly, but they’re also loath to let the upper chamber descend into chaos or divide their caucus ahead of a tough 2020 cycle. And even if Senate Republicans wanted to embrace the hard-line posture of the House, the party’s narrow majority makes that all but impossible under Senate rules.
Calling controversial witnesses will require near lockstep party unity from 51 of the 53 Senate Republicans to make any procedural maneuvers, a tough task given the diverse views in the GOP, according to senators and aides.
In other words, that’s a no to calling Adam Schiff to testify, as Trump and House Republicans have been screaming about for weeks. Senate Republicans also don’t want to call the Bidens to testify, which was part of the Republican witness list for the House Intelligence Committee impeachment hearings.
Republicans have a three-seat majority, and at least three incumbent Senators in North Carolina, Maine, and Colorado who are in grave danger of losing their seats. There are also Senate seats in Arizona and Iowa that could be in play.
The one consistency in Mitch McConnell’s behavior, beyond obstruction, is that he will not do anything to create additional jeopardy for his endangered incumbents. The Senate impeachment trial of Trump may only be a couple of weeks long, but since witnesses have to be voted on by the Senate, look for Republicans to avoid any votes that might come back to haunt them in 2020.
Donald Trump’s conspiracy circus won’t be coming to the Senate in January 2020.
For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.
Follow Jason Easley on Facebook
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) announced that he will be staying as the ranking member on…
Senate Republicans won the first round of their fight for power with Trump, as the…
Trump is threatening to primary Republican senators with Elon Musk's money if they vote against…
The decision to spin off MSNBC as part of a new company will result in…
The House Ethics Committee did not agree to release the Matt Gaetz ethics report, so…
Senate Democrats are taking advantage of Republicans not showing up for work by blowing through…
This website uses cookies.
