Legal scholar Jonathan Turley said this week that Democratic House impeachment manager Jerry Nadler made a “huge blunder” during the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump.
“One of the things you teach law students is that when you make arguments to juries, make sure you don’t insult the jury,” Turley told CBS News. “That is, you don’t want to make statements that make them feel stupid or ascribe any bad motivations to them.”
Prof. Turley: Nadler made a “major blunder” by insulting senatorshttps://t.co/A82urQTV6P pic.twitter.com/ApcCOTvbDL
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 23, 2020
Turley, whom Republicans called to testify in the House impeachment trial, was referring to a statement Nadler made on the Senate floor where he accused his political opponents of coordinating a “cover-up.”
“The question is if the Senate will be complicit in the president’s crimes by covering them up,” Nadler said. “Any senator who votes against any relevant testimony shows that he and she are part of the cover-up. What other possible reason is there to prohibit a relevant witness to testify here?”
The remark agitated several Republican senators.
“Well, I was stunned by Congressman Nadler’s approach, and it reminded me that if we were in a normal debate in the Senate that the rule will be invoked to strike the words of the senator, for impugning another senator in this case,” GOP Maine Sen. Susan Collins said.
Nadler’s comment inspired Collins to write a note that eventually found its way to the desk of the Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who rebuked both sides and reminded them to “remember where they are.”
