The trial of Donald John Trump, President of the United States, begins Tuesday. All 100 members of the Senate have been sworn in, pledging to be fair and impartial in the matter before them.
That may last through Chief Justice Roberts’ formal call to order. But after that —all bets are off.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s goal is to have the trial as over as quickly as possible with an overwhelming “exoneration” for the President. Anything that gets in the way of that goal, including the truth, is expendable.
McConnell is even considering sandwiching 48 hours of presentations, split evenly between the House Managers and The President’s defense team, into four days. That’s twelve hours a day of speeches. That might seem a laudable goal: Senators working hard sitting in silent “jurydom” from 1 pm to 1 am. But it’s not about work – it’s about burying the discussion from the American people.
A more traditional schedule, 1 pm to 9 pm for six days would allow millions more citizens to see what’s going on. Sure some will make the midnight show anyway – but most would be left out. For McConnell that’s all to the good.
Less public exposure means less public pressure on his vulnerable members: Gardner of Colorado, Collins of Maine, McSally from Arizona. And even less pressure for McConnell from Kentucky, who is facing the strongest opponent in his career, and one of the lowest approval ratings in the country.
For the House Managers public pressure is what it’s all about. Public pressure on wavering Republicans to consider hearing witnesses: John Bolton, Mick Mulvaney and the OMB executives who were told to hold the Ukraine money. Those witnesses would allow the American people to hear directly what the President did. Even if it doesn’t convince twenty Republican Senators to remove, the number needed to crossover – it will give the American citizens more information for their vote in November.
But McConnell’s goal is to hear less, see less, and wrap up the trial as soon as possible.
And don’t hang your hopes on John Roberts for a fair trial. He is dedicated to procedural fairness — but he’s also dedicated to his mentor, Bill Rehnquist’s words from when he presided at the Clinton impeachment: “I did very little and I did it very well.”
Roberts will certainly stay in his lane.
So it’s process tomorrow, and the House Managers for the next two or three days. Then the President’s team gets the same amount.
So sometime next week we will reach the crisis: can the House Managers call witnesses? If so, will the President’s team? And if witnesses are allowed will the President try to blanket them with “executive privilege”? Will the Chief Justice and Senate allow him to get away with it?
Odds are we’ll never get to hear witnesses, or at least that’s what the majority of Senate Republicans want us to believe. If they have their way, the coverup will begin.
