Sen. Chuck Schumer turned the tables on Mitch McConnell’s impeachment cover-up and put the pressure on vulnerable GOP Senators to break.
Schumer said on Monday morning, “There is not a single reason that has not been given why the four witnesses we asked for, why the documents we asked for, should not be presented. I don’t know what they’ll say. Maybe they’ll be exculpatory to President Trump, but not have them is to engage in a cover-up, to say we’re afraid. And then the American people will ask of President Trump and people like Mitch Mcconnellif he doesn’t have a full and fair trial what are you hiding? What are you hiding?”
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Chuck Schumer is targeting Mitch McConnell's impeachment cover-up for Trump. Especially, those vulnerable incumbent Republican Senators running for reelection in 2020. pic.twitter.com/BCV4kH7SiF
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— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) December 16, 2019
Leader Schumer laid out the witnesses that he wants in a letter to McConnell as provided to PoliticusUSA, “I propose, pursuant to our rules, that the Chief Justice on behalf of the Senate issue subpoenas for testimony by the following witnesses with direct knowledge of Administration decisions regarding the delay in security assistance funds to the government of Ukraine and the requests for certain investigations to be announced by the government of Ukraine: Robert Blair, Senior Advisor to the Acting White House Chief of Staff; Mick Mulvaney, Acting White House Chief of Staff; John Bolton, former National Security Advisor; and Michael Duffey, Associate Director for National Security, Office of Management and Budget. All four of these witnesses were asked to testify in the House impeachment inquiry but did not appear.”
Schumer was speaking to Mitch McConnell, but who he was really targeting is the vulnerable Republican Senators who will be up for reelection in 2020. If these Republicans go along with a sham trial, they are going to have to face the voters in their home states and explain why they engaged in a cover-up for Trump.
Majority Leader McConnell’s boasting about coordinating with Trump on the impeachment trial has come back to haunt him because he gave Democrats an opening that they are going to use to get witnesses and documents before the American people.
McConnell still doesn’t have the votes to pull off his scheme, so Sen. Schumer (D-NY) is going straight for McConnell’s impeachment cover-up weak spot.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
