A Peek Back at Impeachment 2.0

For John, BLUF:  It is embarrassing to say, but the House Impeachment managers were not interested in fairness.  They were interested in conviction, and failing that, mud.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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A Swamp Tale:  The Bizarre Final Hours of ‘Impeachment Fail 2.0’

Here is the sub-headline:

Behind the scenes at the swamp’s latest show trial (with special scorn reserved for Senator Bill Cassidy).

h From American Greatness, by Mr Brian Trascher, 3 March 2021.

Here is the lede plus five:

I have to admit I didn’t watch most of Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial.  The article of impeachment from the House was hastily and carelessly drafted and contained so many flaws and self-inflicted wounds that it would have been dismissed nolle prosequi in any courtroom in America.  It certainly had no chance in the evenly divided U.S. Senate to achieve anywhere close to the required two-thirds vote needed to convict.  It was all just WrestleMania with old, out-of-shape wrestlers.

But the dog woke me up early that final Saturday morning of the “trial,” and since nothing else was on TV I decided to tune into the latest episode of kangaroo court.  When the closing arguments started, the news alerts began popping up that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had informed his caucus he intended to vote to acquit President Trump since he felt the Senate had no jurisdiction over a private citizen.  Ironically, it was McConnell himself who decided that the trial would not start until after the “inauguration,” but whatever.

Now, anybody who knows Mitch McConnell knows that when he announces how he intends to vote on a big issue, he’s essentially telling his GOP colleagues how he expects them to vote.  He knew that there would be a few defectors, and maybe even a surprise, last-minute turncoat, but he was basically instructing the conservative wing of his caucus to remain on the reservation.  Nevertheless, this announcement set off a chain of events that threw the entire Senate into chaos for a solid hour.

Desperately Fending Off Acquittal

When House impeachment manager Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) heard the news about McConnell’s forthcoming acquittal vote, he knew all hope was lost.  Raskin knew that if his sheepish performance had failed to convince the GOP leader, then he had no prayer of getting to the magic number of 17 Republican votes to convict Trump.  It was over.  But in a last-ditch, delusional attempt to throw a Hail Mary, Raskin made an ill-advised motion to call as a witness U.S. Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.).

The previous night, Herrera Beutler had tweeted a double-hearsay statement regarding a phone call that allegedly took place between House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and President Trump during the January 6 Capitol invasion.  Even though McCarthy disputed the details of the call as Herrera Beutler described them, Raskin decided it was a last-minute necessity to call her as a material witness despite an already adopted resolution excluding witness testimony.  Raskin wanted to deny Trump’s lawyers the opportunity to call witnesses, something that also would not be allowed in a real court.

From this story I give credit to current Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer.  He showed insight and the ability to cut a deal.  Kudos to him.

And thanks to those Republican Senators who voted not guilty.  Having done that, perhaps we will now find out what really happened.  Alterntively, we could just move on.  Putting the 2020 Election behind us, but with the hope of fixing our state election procedures.  Assuming the Speaker doesn't provoke an Insurrection today, as we March Forth

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff