Dems Undercut Their Hope for Witnesses at Impeachment Trial by Offending Republicans They Need For Vote

Nick Arama reporting for RedState

House Democrats’ handling of the Trump impeachment may be driving anyone who has been watching it to drink, it’s such a ridiculous farce. 

Turns out it’s not just the audience who are offended by their presentation so far. 

Republicans, who they have to sway to have any hopes of calling more witnesses, are ticked off at them too. 

From Fox News: 

The first sign of a backlash among that critical group came Wednesday when Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, a moderate member of the conference, said she was offended by House manager Rep. Jerrold Nadler’s assertion that GOP members voting against allowing new testimony and evidence were engaged in a “cover-up.”

“I took it as offensive,” she told reporters Wednesday. “As one who is listening attentively and working hard to get to a fair process, I was offended.”

Nadler’s opening statement, which led to U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts admonishing those in the chamber, accused Republican senators of “voting for a cover-up, voting to deny witnesses, an absolutely indefensible vote, obviously a treacherous vote.”

Really not a good idea to offend the people you need. 

Democrats also seriously ticked off Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) who’s called out their nonsense before. 

“I mean, that’s an extraordinary thing to say on the floor of the United States Senate, the middle of the trial, and that’s what drew the rebuke and rightly so,” Hawley told reporters. “I can tell you, there was an open, open gasping on the Senate floor when Nadler was saying these things. I mean, it’s really, really extraordinary.”

He added: “If the goal was to persuade, they took a huge step backward last night.”

Sen. Hawley: “I haven’t heard any evidence in there that the president’s done anything wrong”

— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) January 23, 2020

Doesn’t sound like they’re doing a very good job convincing anyone who’s had to listen to it all. 

Meanwhile, rather than actually presenting any real facts or evidence, Democrats are taking up a lot of time and making the senators restless and unhappy about it. According to one GOP senator, “The House is completely miscalculating how to handle this. They’re putting far too much emphasis on the time they use than the substance of what they’re delivering.”

It’s also not easy to sit still for hours on end, as Murkowski noted. “You just have to stretch and you just got to stand.” Especially when you have to listen to House Intel Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) for that long.

Murkowski spoke about her sciatica but is used to it because she has to fly long distances back and forth from Alaska to D.C., so she was employing some of the tricks she learned from that experience to keep from hurting. “I’m used to kind of sitting in small confined spaces. But these chairs are not comfortable.”

Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) explained that occasional empty chairs weren’t about disrespect but about having to get up and move around. Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) said some were probably heading out for snacks to help them through the long sessions.