January 14, 2020

That was a sad little press conference, Mr. Majority Leader.

Sen. Mitch McConnell answered a very few questions this afternoon about the impending Senate trial of his favorite Federalist-Society-judge-appointer. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House are expected to vote tomorrow to officially send the articles of impeachment over to the Senate, and the ball will be in his court. He is just wishing he had a bigger ball.

When asked about the noises made initially in favor of making a motion to dismiss the trial before arguments even began, McConnell had to suck it up and deliver the news.

REPORTER: The president has suggested that you should just move to dismiss. You clearly want to get this over sooner rather than later. Why not push to try and dismiss?

McCONNELL: There is little or no sentiment little in the Republican Conference for a motion to dismiss. Our members feel that we have an obligation to listen to the arguments, and we've laid out in this resolution an opportunity for everybody to sit there. And remember, senators can't say anything. And, so they'll have to sit there and listen. To listen carefully to the arguments by both the the prosecution and the defense, to follow that up with written questions, submit it through the Chief Justice. And, that means listening to the case, not dismissing the case.

In other words, he wasn't able to do Trump's dirty work out in the open, right away, by dismissing the case before it was heard. That would show what a screaming sham the trial is, and it would put vulnerable GOP members at risk in November. If there is anything McTurtle is afraid of, it's losing his majority, and by extension, his power. So, if that means he has to sit through the prosecution and defense arguments, he will, and he'll hope at that point he can get 51 votes to not call any witnesses.

He's not exactly excited to have John Bolton get called to testify, is he, now?

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