CNN anchor Chris Cuomo accused the Senate's impeachment trial for President Trump, on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, of not being a real trial on Monday because of the lack of witnesses during the Senate's deliberations.
"Why did I mention the House managers? They’re done, aren’t they? No. One of the ways this process is similar to a real trial, and I emphasize that a lot because this has not been a trial, I don’t care how often they use the word. You don’t have witnesses, you don’t have a trial," Cuomo said.
"But one of the ways it’s similar is that the prosecution, who is technically the House managers, they go last if they want to. So they had a chance to reserve some of their time, and you heard them say that at the end, we reserve the balance of our time," he explained. "That means that after the defense counsel for the president goes, you will see the house managers come on again to conclude. What will they say? Who knows at this point, but you will see them again. It is not over."
The Senate voted against having additional witnesses testify on Friday, resulting in the protesters who were outside the Capitol building to become extremely upset.
Rep. Andy Biggs tweeted Cuomo was wrong to claim there have been no witnesses in the Senate's trial because many of the 17 witnesses' testimony in the House's inquiry were used by the House managers in the past week.
"This was NOT a trial without witnesses," he said.
House Democrats called 17 witnesses, and testimonies from all 17 were included in the impeachment record.
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) February 3, 2020
The Senate heard from 13 of those witnesses - primarily while listening to the House Managers present their case.
This was NOT a trial without witnesses. https://t.co/kiT9s7msAZ