Beside’s NOT convicting Donald Trump of ANYTHING?
The media is reporting SEVERAL things that would not change the final outcome….
Senate Republicans are plotting a speedy acquittal of President Trump as they strategize ahead of the impeachment trial.
After weeks of public haggling from within the caucus, GOP senators are largely lining up behind a shorter proceeding with few, if any, witnesses, paving the way for them to hand Trump an early election-year victory.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said his goal is “to have as short a trial as possible.”
“I think there’s a desire by senators, quite honestly, to get this chapter closed and moved forward,” Graham told reporters.
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said that when it comes to a trial “shorter is better,” and that he thought his colleagues were coalescing behind that.
“I think shorter is better for lots of reasons,” Cramer said. “I think people are ready to move on.”….
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said Thursday that several of his Republican colleagues in the Senate have “severe misgivings” about Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) impeachment strategy to coordinate with the White House.
During a Capitol News Briefing on the Connecticut Network, Blumenthal spoke on the subject of impeachment, stating that there will be pressure on McConnell from other Republican lawmakers to employ a fair strategy for the impending impeachment trial in the upper chamber of Congress.
“I’ve talked to anywhere from five to 10 of my colleagues who have very severe misgivings about the direction that Mitch McConnell is going in denying a full, fair proceeding with witnesses and documents. My hope is that they will say publicly what Sen. Murkowski did, and really hold Mitch McConnell accountable,” he said.
Earlier this month, McConnell told the press that he “is not an impartial juror. This is a political process,” when it came to impeachment proceedings….
Polling has consistently shown a sharp split over impeachment, with Democrats overwhelmingly in favor and Republican voters vehemently opposed to impeaching and removing Trump from office. In a recent POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, 47 percent of independent voters supported removing Trump from office, while 40 percent opposed Trump’s removal.
GOP strategists see little political upside for any Republican senator to consider breaking with the president on the issue given that they would inevitably see a massive drop-off in support among their base voters. Scott Jennings, a political adviser to McConnell and former adviser to President George W. Bush, said Republicans had little to gain by breaking with their party during a Senate trial.
“But you have a hell of a lot to lose,” Jennings said. “If you look at Republicans in any state — a big Trump state or not — and you’re a Republican office holder, you have a heck of a lot to lose by breaking with the president.”
Jennings pointed to the lack of House Republicans supporting impeachment, including retiring members who have been critical of Trump in the past, as evidence of the political case….