The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Senate Votes 51-49 Against Witnesses; Impeachment Circus Will End Wednesday

Posted on | February 1, 2020 | Comments Off on Senate Votes 51-49 Against Witnesses; Impeachment Circus Will End Wednesday

 

Our long national nightmare will soon be over:

Senators defeated a last-ditch effort by Democrats to call witnesses in the impeachment trial of President Trump Friday evening, then approved a final schedule that will force a vote Wednesday on Mr. Trump’s fate.
That means the president will deliver his State of the Union address Tuesday while still under the cloud of impeachment, but will almost certainly be acquitted the next day.
In a series of votes, Republicans blocked Sen. Charles E. Schumer’s attempt to get former National Security Adviser John R. Bolton to testify. The GOP also shot down an attempt by Democrats to outsource all witness decisions to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who has been presiding over the trial but not playing an active role in decision.
After defeating those motions, the Senate adopted its final schedule on a 53-47 vote.
Under the new rules, the chamber has adjourned until Monday, when it will return to hear final arguments from the House Democrats prosecuting the case, and from the president’s defense team.
The trial will then take a break Tuesday, giving Mr. Trump space to deliver his speech from the House chamber that night. Then the trial will reconvene Wednesday at 4 p.m., when a final vote on both articles of impeachment will occur.

(Hat-tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.) There was never really any chance that Trump would be removed from office, which would take 67 senators voting to convict. Nancy Pelosi knew that when she gave Adam Schiff the green light to commence this partisan witch-hunt in September. From the beginning, Schiff’s investigation was compromised by the fact alleged “whistleblower,” Eric Ciaramella, had no direct knowledge of the July 25 phone call at the center of the Ukraine (non-)scandal. Ciaramella is a Deep State protégé of John Brennan, and a known Biden supporter, while Ciaramella’s former NSC colleague Sean Misko, “joined Schiff’s committee staff in August, the same month the whistleblower submitted his complaint.” Whatever your opinion of Trump’s Ukraine policy, the Schiff investigation looked like a subversive plot against the president organized by a cabal of Democrat operatives.

Republican senators recognized this; the real question was whether such deliberate sabotage of the administration was acceptable. And thanks to “Cocaine Mitch,” the answer is, hell no. Exit quote:

“You know what I believe about all of this? It was a bunch of partisan bullshit in the House. It continued in the Senate. It’s gonna end Wednesday, the president’s gonna get acquitted, this is all gonna blow up in their face.”

You tell ’em, Lindsey.




 

Category: Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Senate, Ukraine

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