Impeachment
February 5, 2020 — John Hinderaker
To no one’s surprise, the Democrats’ impeachment drive fell flat in the Senate today. Both articles were decided on a purely party line vote, but for Mitt Romney, who switched sides on the first article (“abuse of power”). The only mild surprise is that no Democrats voted against removal. Doug Jones of Alabama, for one, can forget about any possibility of re-election. But with Jeff Sessions waiting in the wings,
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February 5, 2020 — Scott Johnson
No thanks to Mitt Romney, the Senate has just acquitted President Trump of the first article of impeachment brought against him by the House. Senator Romney announced this afternoon that he would join the Democrats to vote Trump guilty of the first article. He explained in an interview with Chris Wallace on FOX News that in his heart, he knows he’s right. In my heart, I know he’s a fool,
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February 4, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Tomorrow, the Senate will acquit President Trump. There’s a good chance that more Democrats will vote to acquit than Republicans will vote to convict. In fact, there’s a good chance that no Republican Senator will vote to convict. These outcomes would be a defeat for the Democrats. However, the impeachment will still be worth it for the Dems if it helps them in November — e.g., by enabling them to
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February 4, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Chief House impeachment manager has established himself as a contender for recognition as the most repulsive Democratic officeholder in the United States. The competition is intense, however, and I may be overlooking some obvious candidates for the crown. Schiff continues to chart the path upward in the Democratic Party. Schiff continued in his accustomed vein during closing arguments in the Senate impeachment trial yesterday. Tristan Justice isolated a notable thread
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February 3, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Among those who write for the Washington Post’s news pages, Philip Rucker is arguably the most vicious and dishonest when it comes to President Trump. Rucker’s latest anti-Trump article is called (in the paper edition) “Probable acquittal [of Trump] will have long-term effects.” The subtitle is “Senate lowering bar for presidents’ permissible conduct, historians say.” In the body of the article, Rucker claims that this view is supported by “numerous
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February 3, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Inside the sordid impeachment saga there must be a fat Robert Ludlum novel struggling to get out. In the video below from the Senate trial this past Thursday, for example, House impeachment manager Hakeem Jeffries quickly offered The Jeffries Distinction in response to a question posed by Senator Richard Burr. In The Jeffries Distinction he differentiated foreign meddling in the 2016 election undertaken by the Democrats from whatever Trump has
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February 3, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Senate Minority Leader Schumer seems to have thought he might get 50 votes for the Dems’ motion to add “witnesses” and “documents” to the case assembled by the House impeachment managers. Planning ahead, Schumer wondered what might happen in the event of a tie vote on the Dems’ motion. Schumer raised the issue by way of an “inquiry” to Chief Justice Roberts this past Friday, seeking to have Roberts commit
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February 2, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Michael Gerhardt is a law professor at the University of North Carolina. During the House impeachment hearings, Gerhardt embarrassed himself. He claimed that if what President Trump was accused of doing “is not impeachable, then nothing is.” That’s absurd. If the House hadn’t impeached Trump because of his Ukraine stunt, presidents could still be impeached for a multitude of offenses — e.g., selling state secrets to a foreign power or
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February 2, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
So now it’s John Bolton who, in the name of defending President Trump, is to be demonized by conservatives. Some conservatives will find the task an easy one. Bolton is a foreign policy/national security hawk. Many conservatives have become rather dovish. But many other conservatives have continued to admire, or at least respect, Bolton. We like his hard line stance against America’s worst enemies, especially Iran. Bolton has plenty of
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February 2, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Behind the impeachment of President Trump lies the “whistleblower” whose identity the mainstream media have carefully protected from disclosure. The Democrats have classified it Sensitive Compartmented Information. This must account for the media have blackout. At RealClearInvestigations, Paul Sperry (@paulsperry) has refused to abide by the blackout “rules.” He explored the back story in his deeply reported 4,000-word investigative account “Whistleblower Was Overheard in ’17 Discussing With Ally How to
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January 31, 2020 — John Hinderaker
With Lamar Alexander and Lisa Murkowski announcing that they will vote against calling witnesses, the Senate’s impeachment proceeding nears an end. I thought they might actually vote tonight and bring the farce to a merciful conclusion, but apparently that isn’t happening. The New York Post offers a bipartisan explanation, but I suspect that part of what is going on is that the Democrats hope to extend the process beyond President
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January 31, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Former Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren posed a grandstanding question attacking Chief Justice Roberts and the Supreme Court in the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump yesterday. Warren was shrieking for attention. Why might that be? It is a little difficult to follow the logic of the question. The patent stupidity of the question should embarrass her and her target audience. Chief Justice Roberts was visibly chagrined by the
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January 31, 2020 — Scott Johnson
It’s hard to top my first impeachment related edition of “Dems then & now.” The retrieval of the 1999 Biden memo, however, makes a timely appearance for the windmills of your mind. John Bresnahan and Burgess Everett report at Politico: “In January 1999, then-Sen. Joe Biden argued strongly against the need to depose additional witnesses or seek new evidence in a memo sent to fellow Democrats ahead of President Bill
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January 30, 2020 — Scott Johnson
I believe that Senator Ron Johnson rephrased the question Senator Paul submitted to Chief Justice Roberts as set forth in the adjacent post. Chief Justice Robert having declined to read the question, Senator Johnson gave it another go. The question alludes to the RCP columm by Paul Sperry that we also published last week in “Whistleblower overheard.” Not surprisingly, Chief House impeachment manager and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff
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January 30, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Chief Justice Roberts declined to read a question submitted by Senator Rand Paul during the ongoing question and answer session in the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump today. He declined to read the question and he failed to offer an explanation (video below). Senator @RandPaul sends question to the desk during Impeachment Trial. Chief Justice Roberts: "The presiding officer declines to read the question as submitted." pic.twitter.com/CCeB33HnRP — CSPAN
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January 30, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Yesterday during the question and answer portion of the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump, Senators Josh Hawley and Jerry Moran submitted a question for Chief Impeachment Manager Adam Schiff regarding the “whistleblower” who set the train in motion. The gist of the question: “Where’s Waldo Whistleblower?” Everyone in Washington knows who he is, if not where he is. Schiff knows. The senators wondered about his past work with Joe
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January 29, 2020 — John Hinderaker
Mitch McConnell set up the rules for the Senate’s current impeachment hearing so that there would be an early vote on whether to call witnesses, or simply proceed to an up or down vote on impeachment. Either way, the result is foreordained, just as the impeachment process itself was foreordained when the Democrats captured the House in 2018. The president will be exonerated. The vote on whether to proceed with
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