Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s plan for Trump’s impeachment trial a national disgrace.
Senator McConnell repeatedly promised Senators, the public and the press that his rules for the trial would be the same as the rules for President Clinton’s trial. After reading his resolution, it’s clear Senator McConnell is hell-bent on making it much more difficult to get witnesses and documents and intent on rushing the trial through. On something as important as impeachment, Senator McConnell’s resolution is nothing short of a national disgrace.
Sen. McConnell’s proposed rules depart dramatically from the Clinton precedent – in ways that are designed to prevent the Senate and the American people from learning the full truth about President Trump’s actions that warranted his impeachment. The McConnell rules don’t even allow the simple, basic step of admitting the House record into evidence at the trial.
Under this resolution, Senator McConnell is saying he doesn’t want to hear any of the existing evidence, and he doesn’t want to hear any new evidence. A trial where no evidence – no existing record, no witnesses, no documents – isn’t a trial at all — It’s a cover up, and the American people will see it for exactly what it is.
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Furthermore, Senator McConnell’s resolution stipulates that key facts be delivered in the wee hours of the night simply because he doesn’t want the American people to hear them. Any senator that votes for the McConnell resolution will be voting to hide information and evidence from the American people.
As soon as Senator McConnell offers this resolution, I will be offering amendments to address the many flaws in this deeply unfair proposal and to subpoena the witnesses and documents we have requested.â€
McConnell is trying to pull off a scam with no evidence in the dead of night. McConnell’s plan is the next step in his abuse of power and corruption. It is the next step after McConnell got away with blocking Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. There has never been a majority leader who has done more damage to the Senate than Mitch McConnell.
The Majority Leader’s plan is a joke that will show governments around the world that Trump and McConnell are turning the United States into a sham democracy.
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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
