January 15, 2020
Today, for only the third time in American history, the House of Representatives delivered Articles of Impeachment to the Senate, precipitating a trial of the president of the United States. We will need to watch the process unfold with a jaundiced eye, dissecting the biases of those reporting the facts and not losing sight of the bigger picture. As an example, on Monday, the press reported as breaking news that it was unlikely that McConnell would gavel the Senate into session and simply hold a vote on a motion to dismiss the articles, (Source: “McConnell unlikely to pursue dismissal vote on impeachment articles,” by Leigh Ann Caldwell and Garrett Haake, NBCNews.com, 1/14/20). The stated rationale for McConnell’s reluctance– his desire to avoid forcing vulnerable Republican senators to take tough votes– is precisely the reason it was never under serious consideration to begin with.
We should view the ongoing gambit over whether or not to hear witnesses through the same lens. The press has been reporting that at least four Republican senators are contemplating pushing for witnesses. The attention being paid to the perpetually “concerned” Susan Collins, who can always be counted on to make the wrong decision, and Mitt Romney, the rock-ribbed Republican with a spine of Jello, is completely disproportionate to the amount of independence that either has displayed, (Source: “Impeachment spotlight turns to key question: whether to call witnesses,” by Seung Min Kim, Elise Viebeck and Robert Costa, The Washington Post, 1/14/20). Lauding senators who have a sworn duty to uphold the Constitution for considering urging their caucus to conduct an impeachment trial like all other trials and call witnesses is a depressingly low bar. It gives us the illusion of progress and increases the likelihood that the Republicans hold on to control of the Senate.
In the last twenty four hours, thanks to the House Judiciary Committee’s release of a trove of documents from Lev Parnas, we have learned that Robert F. Hyde, a Republican Congressional candidate and Trump superfan, had Ambassador Marie Yovanovich under surveillance in Kiev, and made veiled offers to have her harmed (Source: “Lev Parnas Adds New Details on Push to Oust U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine,” by Ben Protess, William K. Rashbaum and Michael Rothfeld, The New York Times, 1/14/20). As the documents make clear, Trump was not merely aware of what Guiliani and Parnas were doing in Ukraine, their efforts were being done with Trump’s “knowledge and consent.”
Let’s see Romney demand that the Senate call Parnas and Guiliani as witnesses to tell the truth about Trump’s involvement or risk a perjury charge. Let’s see Susan Collins forcefully seek accountability for the involvement of a sitting president in a plot to spy on and possibly murder an American ambassador for his own petty political gain. What are they afraid of? Mean tweets? Losing their seats? Courage is defined as the ability to do the thing that scares you. Fulfilling their sworn duty to protect the United States from “all enemies foreign and domestic” shouldn’t be it.