Democrats had every opportunity to conduct impeachment proceedings in whatever manner they deemed appropriate. But House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff is now upset that Senate Republicans will be afforded the same opportunity in the Senate.
"I think there are any number of witnesses that should be called in the Senate trial, and many witnesses the American people would like to hear from that the administration has refused to make available," Schiff complained to ABC's "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos. Rep. Jerrold Nadler also spoke to Stephanopolous and echoed Chairman Schiff's concerns about the Senate trial.
Of course, Republicans also had a long list of witnesses they wanted to hear from during the Democrat-led impeachment hearings in the House.
"And perhaps of equal and if not greater importance are the thousands and thousands of documents that the administration refuses to turn over," Schiff continued. "I would hope that every senator of both parties would like to see the documentary evidence."
The Democrats need more toppings on the nothingburger of an impeachment they've cooked up, but checks and balances go both ways, and the Trump White House has just as much right to executive privilege as previous administrations.
Schiff should feel lucky that McConnell isn't planning on holding the Senate trial in the SCIF Room and selectively leaking information to the press, which is how Chairman Schiff began impeachment in the House.
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McConnell told Fox News' Sean Hannity this past week that there was "no chance" the president would be removed from office and said he would be coordinating the Senate trial directly with the White House Counsel's Office.
"The case is so darn weak, coming over from the House," McConnell told Sean Hannity. "We all know how it's going to end. There's no chance the president is going to be removed from office. My hope is there won't be a single Republican who votes for either of these articles of impeachment and Sean it wouldn't surprise me if we got one or two Democrats."
If the House sends the two articles of impeachment over to the Senate, McConnell said the Senate would take up the articles at the beginning of the new year and focus solely on the Senate trial, which McConnell hopes will be a shorter rather than a longer process.
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