Senate GOP in bind on impeachment

[Warlord]

I wonder if they will stab Trump in the back?


Senate Republicans, with 22 seats up for reelection and their majority up for grabs in 2020, are in a bind over how to defend President Trump from the House impeachment push.

They realize their political fortunes and policy goals are tied to the president, but they also know their best shot at keeping control of the Senate hinges on senators preserving their independent brands.

That means they have to be careful in defending conduct they see as improper; several Senate Republicans say it would be wrong to hold up military aid to Ukraine to gain political leverage, the issue at the heart of the impeachment inquiry.

Senate Republicans on Tuesday took a decidedly cautious approach as a White House witness offered new testimony in the House critical of Trump.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) claimed victory in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) decision to hold a House vote Thursday on impeachment procedures but stopped short of outlining his next moves.

“Obviously they’ve responded to the pressure that we put on them to try to handle this in a more transparent way that meets basic standards of due process that every American would be entitled to,” he said.

“We’ll have to take a look at what the House produces later today and see if it passes the smell test of providing the kind of due process protections that the president and his team are certainly entitled to, just like President Nixon was and President Clinton was,” he said.

Trump and Republican leaders in the House have telegraphed a new strategy intended to move away from attacks against Democrats on process, and toward a more robust defense of the president on the merits of impeachment.

“I’d rather go into the details of the case rather than the process,” Trump said Monday before a trip to Chicago.

“Process is wonderful,” he added. “But I think you ought to look at the case.”

But McConnell, a master of procedural fights, didn’t endorse the shift in his comments.

Instead, he noted that the resolution he and 49 other Republican senators sponsored condemning the House impeachment process “didn’t deal with the merits” of the charges against Trump.

And McConnell seemed reluctant to give up the strategy of attacking Democrats on procedural grounds.



https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/468029-senate-gop-in-bind-on-impeachment

[enhanced_deficit]

Yes, they seem to be in a bind.


In closed-door Senate meet, McConnell gave PowerPoint presentation about impeachment process (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?540359-In-closed-door-Senate-meet-McConnell-gave-PowerPoint-presentation-about-impeachment-process&)

ROMNEY DOWNLOADS ON TRUMP: MAY VOTE TO REMOVE! (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/10/mitt-romney-middle-impeachment-fight/600373/)


He's a patriot': Republicans defend key impeachment witness from attacks

Senior GOP lawmakers rejected the assault from conservative pundits on Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman.


https://static.politico.com/0b/c0/00d28d0b45fc932b974d126fc330/191029-vindman-ap-773-3.jpg

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman told House impeachment investigators that he thought President Donald Trump undermined national security with his Ukraine pressure campaign.
By BURGESS EVERETT and MELANIE ZANONA

10/29/2019

Republican leaders are stepping up to defend Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman against vicious attacks from President Donald Trump's allies.
Republicans may quibble with the substance of Vindman’s testimony as they try to protect Trump from the fast-moving impeachment inquiry. But congressional GOP leaders say it’s out of bounds to question Vindman’s patriotism and allegiance to the United States, as some conservative pundits did on Monday night.

Several top Republicans on Tuesday made emphatic statements in support of Vindman, a National Security Council official who heard Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president and testified (https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/28/vindman-testimony-trump-national-security-000305) that it was improper for Trump to demand an investigation into Joe Biden and represented a threat to U.S. national security.

“That guy’s a Purple Heart. I think it would be a mistake to attack his credibility,” South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said in an interview. “You can obviously take issue with the substance and there are different interpretations about all that stuff. But I wouldn’t go after him personally. He’s a patriot.”
“I’m not going to question the patriotism of any of the people who come forward," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), though he declined to comment "on the merit of what’s going forward" or Vindman's suggestion that he was concerned Trump's actions had undermined national security.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/1...vindman-061057 (https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/29/republicans-defend-impeachment-witness-vindman-061057)

[Brian4Liberty]

I wonder if they will stab Trump in the back?

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/468029-senate-gop-in-bind-on-impeachment

There are quite a few RINOs and neocons in the Senate that would join the Democrats on this. But it takes a 2/3 vote in Senate to impeach, and that is highly unlikely.

[Warlord]

There are quite a few RINOs and neocons in the Senate that would join the Democrats on this. But it takes a 2/3 vote in Senate to impeach, and that is highly unlikely.

Romney, Collins and Murkowski are keeping quiet. The usual suspects but as you say no where near enough to impeach.

[enhanced_deficit]

There are quite a few RINOs and neocons in the Senate that would join the Democrats on this. But it takes a 2/3 vote in Senate to impeach, and that is highly unlikely.

Trump is also seen as a RINO among many conservatives and he is a on various key issues; won't be too surprised if some Dems came to his defense in the end even if pro impaechmet Dems succeeded in peeling away some Republican Senators.

[Brian4Liberty]

Romney, Collins and Murkowski are keeping quiet. The usual suspects but as you say no where near enough to impeach.

If McCain was still alive, I’d wager both he and his apprentice Lindsey Graham would be for impeachment. No McCain, and Graham is probably sticking with Trump.

[Anti Globalist]

Once again all this talk about impeaching Trump is stupid as its never going to come into fruition.

[acptulsa]

Once again all this talk about impeaching Trump is stupid as its never going to come into fruition.

Sure it is.

He won't be removed from office. But he will be impeached.

The way people get their panties in a knot when they hear the president was impeached, because they don't know impeachment is the first step rather than the last, is what makes it such an effective distraction from all the evil things D.C. is doing.

[Warlord]

If McCain was still alive, I’d wager both he and his apprentice Lindsey Graham would be for impeachment. No McCain, and Graham is probably sticking with Trump.

Some more names to add to the list:



Pro-impeachment group pressures four GOP senators with new ads

The Democratic group Need to Impeach is airing new ads pushing four Republican senators to remove President Donald Trump from office, as public pressure campaigns surrounding impeachment ratchet up.

The ads — which are starting to air this week, as the House votes on an initial impeachment resolution — target Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Martha McSally (R-Ariz.). All four will face voters in 2020, and Need to Impeach believes that constituent pressure could push GOP senators to break ranks and vote to remove Trump in an eventual impeachment trial.

Need to Impeach is spending $3.5 million on its current ad campaign, and may expand that spending.

“Should a president pressure a foreign leader to intervene in our elections?” a narrator asks in the ads.

The ads feature comments from Trump and other White House staff, including a statement Trump made in September, about whether he threatened to withhold aid to Ukraine over investigating former Vice President Joe Biden’s family: “I could have. I think it would probably, possibly have been okay if I did,” Trump says.

The ads conclude by urging viewers to contact their senators: “Tell Senator Collins it’s time to put country over party,” the ad in Maine concludes.


https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/30/need-to-impeach-pressures-republican-senators-061797

I wonder where they're getting that kind of money from?

[Brian4Liberty]

Some more names to add to the list:



https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/30/need-to-impeach-pressures-republican-senators-061797

I wonder where they're getting that kind of money from?

Of course neocon Martha McSally is on the list. Forgot she had to run again to keep her appointed seat. That explains why her goofy face has been on the TV today. Media will push her hard on Arizona voters. Will they ever get a clue?

When McSally jumped on the MeToo train and claimed she was raped in the military, her re-election was in jeopardy. She was a bit unhinged. Can’t someone beat her in the primary?

[r3volution 3.0]

There's no way he gets removed from office, at least not in this term.

If a handful of GOPers need to vote for removal to please their own constituencies, that can be arranged without changing the outcome.

[fcreature]

This article has it ass-backwards.

It's the House that is in a bind.