Trump Wins Witness Vote 51-49 – Acquittal Looks Solid

Posted on January 31, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 31, 2020

The Democrat House managers spent all day pathetically talking into the wind. But the decisions of Senators Alexander and Murkowski tipped the scales in a 51-49 vote against calling witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. With that, acquittal for the president is likely relatively close at hand.

Though Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer could still propose a series of amendments, all debatable for two hours, to hold up the verdicts for some time.

It is reported that negotiations are going on right now to finish the trial next week at the very latest. The Democrats may want the extra time to make Trump give the upcoming State of the Union address still under threat of impeachment. At that event they very well may try to embarrass the president in some way.

There is a also rumor the Democrats may eventually boycott the remaining votes by walking out of the Senate, only voting “present”, or some other kind of spoiled loser maneuver.

Senators Romney and Collins bucked the GOP and the president by voting for witnesses. Susan Collins will not pay a big price for her rebellion in moderate Maine. But in conservative Utah Mitt Romney could very well see a primary challenge.

A state legislator in Utah has already proposed a measure allowing for the recall of U.S. Senators, that’s how mad the Utah GOP is at Mittens for selling out his party and country.

Democrats wasted all day calling for the same witnesses they had every change to call during the House hearings they ran last month. But they decided not to call them then, waiting for the higher PR platform of the Senate to pull out their bag of tricks.

It was an error, as they don’t control the Senate. However, the Democrats hoped a combination of lies, media pressure, and threats would make GOP Senators come around and vote to extend the trial by weeks and then yet again vote to remove the president from office.

The plan crashed and burned on Friday, the smoldering embers lighting the way to presidential victory.

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

The post Trump Wins Witness Vote 51-49 – Acquittal Looks Solid appeared first on The Political Insider.

Democrats Begin to Meltdown as Their Loss Looms

Posted on January 31, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 31, 2020

There was lots of drama on the Senate floor on Thursday as it began to dawn on Democrats that their years long campaign to drive President Trump from office was falling apart.

Developments during the day included:

In his opening remarks Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell sent a subtle message to his fellow GOP Senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul. He told him to back off on CJ John Roberts. Roberts had the day before squelched a Paul question that named CIA informer Eric Ciaramella.Rand Paul didn’t listen and did the same thing in the first GOP question of the day. Roberts cut him down. Paul was upset and walked off the floor of the Senate. But not much later in the day Roberts allowed almost the same question, just not from Paul and not naming Ciaramella by name. At such, the Democrats, most notably Schiff, went into their victim act and fake indignation shtick.
The GOP team focused on the dichotomy of Democrat statements that contended that keeping the president in office was an “urgent” threat to national security and the nation itself, yet they delayed moving ahead for a month.

Possible swing votes Democrat Senators Manchin of West Virginia and Jones of Alabama signaled they would be voting against Trump at least on witnesses. If Schumer doesn’t give them a waiver, for state political viability, to vote for acquittal he is insane. Another possible swing, GOP Senator Lamar of Tennessee, will stay with the president. That should hold the GOP defections to 2-3, not the 4 the Democrats need to win. It could be over by Friday night, possibly Saturday morning.
The Democrats attempted to use the words of Professor Jonathan Turley, a GOP House witness, in their Senate case. It didn’t work.
A main GOP message, well articulated by all GOP lawyers, was to implore the Senate to let the people, not impeachment, decide who inhabits the Oval Office.
Sensing victory on the general question, GOP Senator Toomey of PA dropped his one witness for each side deal.

After Democrats accused Trump of somehow cheating in the 2020 election before the first vote is cast, Trump lawyer Pat Cipollone hit them with, “Talk about cheating, you won’t even face him,” meaning they are afraid to face Trump in an election again.

Indeed they are. The late day and night got even more amusing. Details to follow in the next article…

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

The post Democrats Begin to Meltdown as Their Loss Looms appeared first on The Political Insider.

Toomey Proposes One Witness Deal in Senate Trial

Posted on January 28, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 28, 2020

Pennsylvania GOP Senator Pat Toomey, a Trump supporter but not particularly close to the White House, is reportedly floating a plan that would permit the Democrats and the Trump defense team one witness each during the impeachment trial of President Trump in the Senate.

He bills it as a compromise that would limit the time spent on witnesses and would avoid a potential Trump loss on the question when it comes up soon to a Senate vote.

The vote could be won with a simple majority of 51 and several Senators out of the 53 member GOP caucus, to include Alexander, Collins, Romney, Murkowski, McSally, and Gardner, are said to be thinking about supporting the current Democrat proposal for unlimited witnesses.

The Democrats would need four GOP turncoats to win that vote.

Collins, McSally, and Gardner are up for reelection this year in light red to purple states and they may be thinking they need to vote for the Democrat measure to keep swing and moderate support. Toomey believes this gambit will keep them and the other possible rebels on board.

LifeZette has learned that Toomey has spoken directly with Romney and Collins on the issue and they have not shot it down out of hand.

Who would those witnesses be?

According to Capitol Hill staffers on both sides of the aisle the Democrats would go with John Bolton and the GOP defense team is leaning towards informer Eric Ciaramella or Adam Schiff.

If Bolton testified against Trump and said the president directly linked Ukrainian military aid to a political hit on Biden it would mark the greatest case of political betrayal DC has seen in a while. It would also be the Fort Sumter in outright political warfare between the Warhawk and America First wings of the GOP.

Putting Ciaramella on the stand could expose his partisan nature and his lack of direct knowledge of everything he alleges, thus undercutting the entire Democrat case.

Watching Schiff squirm under cross examination from Jay Sekulow, Eric Herschmann, or, please God, Alan Dershowitz, would not only be spiritually satisfying on the order of a Bach High Mass but would set forth the firm case that the entire House process was a sham from the beginning.

Witnesses would also add to the drama of the proceeding and the media feeding would only get more frenzied.

The vote on the issue could happen this week.

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

The post Toomey Proposes One Witness Deal in Senate Trial appeared first on The Political Insider.