Chaos Erupts On ‘The View’ As Joy Behar And Meghan McCain Go At It Over Impeachment Witnesses

Posted on January 31, 2020 by LifeZette

By PopZette Staff | January 31, 2020

The ABC talk show “The View” went off the rails once again on Friday morning when cohosts Joy Behar and Meghan McCain got into yet another heated argument over Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.

Behar kicked the show off by voicing her frustrations over the fact that the impeachment trial is likely about to end.

“The impeachment trial could be over by tonight,” Behar said. “And Republican Senator Lamar Alexander, who has a deciding vote on letting witnesses testify basically said that Trump is guilty but ‘so what, who cares.’”

The notoriously liberal cohost went on to say that if Alexander were to vote for witnesses, he “would save democracy, a small thing. But no, he doesn’t want to.”

Behar also accused Alexander of trying to “cover” Maine’s Republican Senator Susan Collins so that she can vote “yes” and then be reelected.

“But she’s a hypocrite and a liar and I don’t trust her as far as I could throw her,” Behar exclaimed.

McCain, however, was not having any of it.

“The counterargument that Republicans are going to make is that it wasn’t a wholly bipartisan trial,” McCain calmly explained. “What I got from Alexander is he said President Trump, what he did was unethical, it just wasn’t impeachable. And I knew you would be very upset, quite frankly, Joy.”

“I am upset. I’m upset for the country,” Behar fired back, already coming unglued. “I feel that people in this country and other democracies have to watch it. We’ve taken democracy for granted because we’ve lived in it for so long and have so many beautiful things because of it. And it’s going down the toilet because of one party.”

McCain was quick to defend the GOP, saying, “it’s not just Republicans,” and adding that it was Democrats who have been “bungling” the case against Trump. She also pointed out that some moderate Democrats may even vote to acquit Trump after the way the trial has been handled.

“I think to blanket it as all Republicans, there were Democrats involved as well,” McCain said as Behar tried to protest. “I know you’re upset, but I’m just trying to explain the other side.”

“God help America and democracy,” an exacerbated Behar said.

REPUBS SUCCESSFUL IN BLOCKING WITNESSES? GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander, a key swing vote on calling witnesses in Pres. Trump’s impeachment trial, does not plan to vote in favor of hearing additional witnesses — we weigh in on how this changes the trial. https://t.co/1qHqfw940F pic.twitter.com/MuLfLqBb6K

— The View (@TheView) January 31, 2020

Behar should really be focusing her frustrations on Democrats right now, as it is they who have wasted the time and money of American taxpayers with this ridiculous impeachment stunt. They knew from the start that Trump would never be impeached in the Republican-controlled Senate, yet they chose to push forward with this farce anyway.

Shame on Democrats for their witch hunt against Trump, and shame on liberals like Behar for letting them get away with it.

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

The post Chaos Erupts On ‘The View’ As Joy Behar And Meghan McCain Go At It Over Impeachment Witnesses appeared first on The Political Insider.

4 takeaways from 2 days of impeachment trial questions

Posted on January 31, 2020 by Daniel Bush

The White House legal team and House managers Thursday concluded two days of answering questions from senators in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. Here are key takeaways from their arguments.

Alexander opposes, Collins supports calling witnesses in Trump impeachment trial

Posted on January 31, 2020 by Associated Press

Sen. Lamar Alexander said in a statement there was "no need for more evidence," giving the Trump team the likelihood of a Senate vote in its direction.

Bolton Manuscript Leaked, Romney and Collins May Vote Against the President

Posted on January 27, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 27, 2020

Reports out of DC, on the heels of the selective leaking of John Bolton’s new book, is that Republican Senators Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine are likely to go south on the GOP trial process and vote to bring in witnesses.

If that happens the trial won’t be over by late this week/early next week. It could go on for weeks. If the duo votes against the president’s trial agenda the Dems would still need two more votes to win on the subject. They are targeting GOP Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.

The pressure to vote for witnesses was ratcheted up over the weekend with leaks from John Bolton’s new book that claim that the president directly told Bolton that the delay in military aid to Ukraine was tied to Biden.

Bolton is using the same team and strategy as has James Comey and the leak was coordinated to coincide with the impeachment trial, a vote on witnesses and, most importantly to Bolton, the availability to preorder his book online.

But bringing on witnesses is a two-edged sword for the Dems. Yes, the Dems may get Bolton. But the GOP could call Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, Adam Schiff, and Eric Ciaramella. As spiritually satisfying at it would be to watch Jay Sekulow munch on their still warm legal carcasses for lunch, the sooner this charade is over is the sooner the president can get back to undistracted work and the Congress can get back to whatever it does on a daily basis aside from fundraisers and hitting on lobbyists.

Bolton’s move can not only be seen as revenge for being fired by Trump, but as another chapter in the intramural GOP fight over a Cold War national security stance or the America First approach of the president.

If Collins and Murkowski vote for witnesses it is likely to throw some meat to their moderate supporters. Alexander is a lame duck and can vote the way he chooses without electoral repercussions.

Though if he desires an appointment in a second Trump administration this would not be the way to get it. And then there’s Mittens.

This would be a way for him to play to the press and shiv Trump at the same time. Given Romney’s notorious sanctimony and ego, it may be a temptation he is unable to resist.

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

The post Bolton Manuscript Leaked, Romney and Collins May Vote Against the President appeared first on The Political Insider.

WATCH: Schiff’s ‘head on a pike’ remark angers GOP senators

Posted on January 25, 2020 by Laurie Kellman, Associated Press

Senate Republicans said lead impeachment prosecutor Adam Schiff insulted them during the trial by repeating an anonymously sourced report that the White House had threatened to punish Republicans who voted against President Donald Trump.

Crucial Moderate Senators Are ‘Offended’ and ‘Stunned’ After Nadler Accuses Senators of ‘Cover-Up’

Posted on January 24, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 24, 2020

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a woman known for her easily riled independence and from a functionally libertarian state, has said she was ‘offended’ when Dem impeachment manager Jerry Nalder said the Senate would be engaging in a ‘cover up’ if they didn’t vote with the Dems on witnesses in the Trump impeachment trial.

They didn’t and Murkowski hit back.

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

Now, she could have sucked it up and kept her problem to herself.

But the fact that she chose speak out was a signal as to where her leanings lie on the entire deal. That would quash the Dem plan to bring four Republican Senators (Alexander, Murkowski, Romney, and Collins are most often mentioned) over to their aisle on procedural votes and then on convicting the president.

Alexander of Tennessee is not running for reelection this year and thus he’d pay no political price for voting with the Dems.

But he probably wants to retire to an ambassadorship or another such bauble when he leaves the Senate.

Ticking off a president who is likely to be reelected forestalls that anytime soon.

Murkowski is more moderate than the rest of the Republican caucus. But she is holding firm for now.

Then there’s Mittens.

His record with Donald Trump is well known. Romney has called the president some very untoward things and has commented negatively on everything from the president’s politics to his personal character.

But this former governor and son of a governor likes the status of office and conservative Utah may not readily forgive his apostasy on the Trump verdict. Smart money says he’s reluctantly safe.

Collins of Maine is the only one of the group who has defected. On one procedural vote, she went south on the GOP. The party won anyway.

So she’s let very purple Maine know she doesn’t have blinders on. But she held fast on Kavanaugh while under tremendous leftist pressure. She’ll hold here when it counts.

The Dems wrap up today and the GOP takes over tomorrow as the trial marches on.

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

The post Crucial Moderate Senators Are ‘Offended’ and ‘Stunned’ After Nadler Accuses Senators of ‘Cover-Up’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

Trump Trial Winners and Losers: We’ll Help You Decide

Posted on January 22, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 22, 2020

In a couple of hours, we’re again diving into what may become another late-night session in the Senate trial of President Donald Trump.

But before that news eclipses last night’s events, let’s look at an overview of Monday’s hijinks and see how they played out legally and politically.

Presidential lawyers Pat Cipollone and Jay Sekulow knocked it out of the park yesterday in their defense of the president. Cipollone especially shined as he had just the right mix of scholarly demeanor and lawyerly aggression.

He knocked down Dem arguments like swatting away slow-learning gnats and his consistent success at the podium drove Dems to fits of agitation. That agita made Jerry Nadler lose it at the end, as we covered in a previous piece.

Adam Schiff fared no better, as his personal mannerisms got truly odd as the trial wore on.

He seemed not to know what to do with his hands at the rostrum, first holding them together, then kneading them against one another in scenes that made him look like Lady MacBeth in a bad suit.

The Dems used a PowerPoint demonstration that would have embarrassed a third grader as they trudged from point to redundant point not ever moving enough Republicans by their exertions to win the vote on a single amendment.

In fact, during the entire night, they got one Republican one time, Susan Collins of Maine, to break ranks. It didn’t matter and the GOP won that vote too.

It seems the Dems are not playing to the Senate, as they almost admitted a couple of times. They are playing to the media, to give them their talking points, and to the fall election. The agitprop bullets you see on the screen at the trial you will see again in Dem messaging in the fall election.

Speaking of that benighted political group, three of their coterie, Senators Warren, Sanders, and Klobuchar, must be seething in their seats as the trial promises to bleed into long days, longer nights, and has the potential to go weeks.

That will keep the trio off the campaign trail in Iowa and New Hampshire and is a serious boon to Joe Biden and the rest of the Dem field.

Whether Chuck Schumer has intentionally designed it that way is an interesting idea to contemplate.

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

The post Trump Trial Winners and Losers: We’ll Help You Decide appeared first on The Political Insider.

Chief Justice Roberts Forced to Play Referee During Impeachment Trials

Posted on January 22, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 22, 2020

Tuesday’s first day of the Senate trial of President Donald Trump was a relatively boring affair, up until almost the end.

The GOP shield wall held up on vote after vote, losing only one member, Collins of Maine, one time on a small procedural matter. At the end of the night, the score was Trump 11, the Dems 0.

Fans of the president cheered and chortled on social media as 11 out of 11, save the one noted above, pathetic Schumer amendments were shot down in flames on 53-47 party line votes.

After a night of that kind of battering the Dems started to lose their equilibrium. You could see it in Schiff. He began to oddly glare at the GOP lawyers as if he could conjure up a death stare that would make them cease and desist legally beating him like a rug.

They didn’t seem to even notice him.

At almost the end, not long before 1am, the Dems could stand it no longer.

The frustration that they were convincing no Republican in the Senate to break party ranks enough to give them even one victory overwhelmed the already delicate sensibilities of Dem House Manager Jerry Nadler. He let loose.

He called GOP legal actions “treacherous.” Nadler claimed the Senate was engaged in a “cover-up” and that “only guilty people try to hide evidence.” He went on to say that “the Senate is on trial” and asked if they would “betray your pledge to be an impartial juror.”

The president’s personal lawyer struck back hard.

“We’ve made our arguments to you. And you don’t deserve, and we don’t deserve, what just happened. Mr. Nadler came up here and made false allegations against our team. He made false allegations against all of you; he accused you of a cover-up. He’s been making false allegations against the president. The only one who should be embarrassed, Mr. Nadler is you, for the way you’ve addressed the United States Senate. This is the United States Senate. You’re not in charge here. … It’s about time we bring this power trip in for a landing,” said Cipollone.

It got so heated that Chief Justice John Roberts, presiding over the trial, had to warn both sides on their language. He scolded, “Those addressing the Senate should remember where they are.”

The night ended soon after with complete GOP victory and Dem loss. Day two starts in mere hours.

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

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