Everything has really fallen in line for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ever since he declared earlier this week that he had enough GOP votes to start the impeachment trial of Donald Trump without the promise of witnesses or new documents. Despite some within the Beltway prematurely declaring McConnell’s big win, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi again swatted down calls to transmit the impeachment articles from the House to the Senate until she can get a sense of what the Senate trial will look like.
Meanwhile, McConnell has been sparring with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who's angling to add the House GOP clown car to Donald Trump's defense team in the Senate trial. “Regardless of what other team he has, they should be in there helping because they have so much information,” McCarthy said of GOP congressmen such as Jim Jordan and Doug Collins, who spouted relentless nonsense throughout the entire House proceedings.
Despite that little hiccup, McConnell has been huddling with Trump, supposedly talking him down from all the things he really wants, like the low-rent TV dramedy Jordan and Collins would provide. But all of McConnell's colluding with the White House apparently hasn’t been enough to keep Trump from returning to his favorite trial hobby horse.
“I’m going to leave it to the Senate, but I’d like to hear the whistleblower, I’d like to hear ‘shifty’ Schiff, I’d like to hear Hunter Biden and Joe Biden,” Trump told reporters at a White House event Thursday, according to Politico. Cue up "Send in the Clowns" on the soundtrack.
McConnell and the rest of his caucus are completely desperate to avoid exactly the type of spectacle Trump just can't seem to live without. Senate Republicans really need their sham trial to at least look serious and solemn, especially as they attempt to deep-six the very things that trials usually include, such as witnesses and documents.
Naturally, Trump is under the impression that he will get to call all the witnesses he wants while excluding people who actually have relevant, first-hand information regarding the Ukraine scandal, such as former national security adviser John Bolton. Sure, the Ukraine imbroglio is what he got impeached over, but details, shmetails.
“When we start allowing national security advisers to just go up and say whatever they want to say, we can’t do that,” Trump said Thursday, emphasizing the importance of protecting "presidential privilege." “People can’t go up and say whatever my thoughts are, whatever your thoughts are about us, countries, views. You don’t want that to be out,” he added. Gee, Trump, what could you possibly be hiding?
McConnell must be getting more desperate by the second to push those impeachment articles through and rig the trial before the votes disappear.