Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday he won’t allow House Democrats to dictate rules for President Trump’s impeachment trial, as lawmakers return to Washington without the Senate having received the two articles of impeachment ratified by the House of Representatives.
McConnell said the Senate won’t give in to Democratic demands that Republicans agree to call witnesses during an impeachment trial. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said the reason she is refusing to formally transmit the articles to the Senate is because she wants a commitment there will be witnesses called.
“We can’t hold a trial without the articles … so for now we’re content to continue the ordinary business of the Senate while House Democrats continue to flounder,” McConnell said in a Senate floor speech, during which he first addressed the airstrike on Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani.
“No member of this body needs condescending lectures on fairness from House Democrats who just rushed through the most unfair impeachment in modern history,” McConnell said, declaring the Democratic demands a “non-starter.”
The speech continues an impasse that may stall Trump’s trial, which had been expected to begin next week. Democrats want to force testimony from White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, former National Security Adviser John Bolton and others who did not testify during House proceedings, which Pelosi wanted done before Christmas.
But McConnell accused House Democrats of rushing through impeachment without devoting the time necessary to acquire evidence for their case by going to court over subpoenas for such witnesses. He said the House “botched their process” and cannot “reach over” to the Senate to augment their case.
“If they ever muster the courage to stand behind their slapdash work product and transmit their articles to the Senate, it will then be time of the US Senate to fulfill our founding purpose,” McConnell said.
“Just before the holidays this sad spectacle took another unusual turn. As soon as the partisan impeachment votes had finished, the prosecutors began to develop cold feet. Instead of sending the articles to the Senate they flinched,” McConnell said.
“That’s right, the same people who just spent weeks screaming that impeachment was so serious and so urgent that it couldn’t wait for due process now decided it could wait indefinitely while they checked the political wind and looked for some new talking points.”
McConnell called for the Senate to adopt rules similar to those used during the 1999 impeachment of President Bill Clinton. During those proceedings, a handful of witnesses were deposed but were not called to testify in person.
“President Trump should get the same treatment that every single senator thought was fair for President Clinton. Just like 20 years ago, we should address mid-trial questions such as witnesses after briefs, opening arguments, senator questions and other relevant motions,” McConnell said.
The majority leader spoke hours after the US Court of Appeals for DC Circuit, located at the base of Capitol Hill, heard arguments from lawyers from the Justice Department and the House Judiciary Committee over whether former White House Counsel Don McGahn could be forced to testify in further House proceedings — potentially as part of a second impeachment effort.
