Excerpts from article:
...Three days of presentations by the House managers, and most Republicans say they are unmoved by the testimony, dismissing the arguments as repetitive and even boring, signaling that they may be ready to move on soon after the President's defense team lays out its case.
...After wall-to-wall coverage of a House impeachment inquiry in the House, weeks of public hearings with career diplomats accusing the President of a quid pro quo and damning transcripts putting the President's personal lawyer at the center of the scandal, Senate Republicans are growing confident that this is now the defense team's trial to lose.
...Republicans are heading into the next phase of the trial hoping -- albeit aware of Trump's tendency to be a wild card -- that the President's defense team follows the mantra of do no harm.
...But, what Republicans hope the team avoids is a drawn-out attack on the Bidens or any tangents that alienate moderate Republican senators whose votes on witnesses are on the line.
...What Donald Trump is doing during impeachment "I would keep it high minded on the law.
...Jay Sekulow , a leader on the President's defense team, told reporters Friday night that "sometimes less is more."
...All eyes have been on moderate Republicans -- four in particular -- and whether Democrats' arguments would be enough to sway them to vote for witnesses including former national security adviser John Bolton or acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, but in recent days even those members' are signaling they may not ultimately vote for witnesses.
...Pompeo reschedules trip to Ukraine as impeachment trial wages on Behind the scenes, Republican leadership has pressed the case that a vote for witnesses could turn a 10-day impeachment trial into a unending political free-for-all in which the ultimate outcome -- the President's acquittal -- is still almost all but guaranteed.
...While the most-watched senators -- including Murkowski, Alexander, Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine -- have all said they will wait to make up their minds on witnesses until after they hear the presentations from both sides, fellow Republicans argue the President's lawyers job in the days ahead should be to simply not do anything to alienate the senators on the line.
Submitted 1551 days ago
Latest News
