Lead impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff left several Republican senators incensed in the closing moments of the third and final day of the Democrats’ opening arguments.
Schiff, who received plaudits from Democrats and Republicans alike for his delivery in the first couple days of the Senate impeachment trial against President Trump, stirred outrage Friday evening when he repeated a CBS News report citing an unnamed Trump source who said GOP senators were warned not to vote against the commander in chief.
“CBS News reported last night that a Trump confidant said that GOP senators were warned … ‘vote against the president and your head will be on a pike,'” the California Democrat said. Schiff added that he does not know if the report is true and hopes it is unfounded.
.@RepAdamSchiff “CBS News reported last night that a Trump confidant said that GOP Senators were warned ‘vote against your president, the president, and your head will be on a pike.”
Watch full video — https://t.co/3kpzsWQzah pic.twitter.com/1EJJxWo5Zl
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 25, 2020
But at a time when Democrats are trying to woo moderate Republicans in the fight over whether to call witnesses to testify and later the final vote over whether to acquit Trump of the two articles of impeachment he faces, the comment could prove costly.
GOP Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was “PISSED,” Politico reporter John Burgess Everett tweeted in capital letters afterward. He then quoted her saying, “He was going fine with moral courage until he got to ‘head on a pike.’ That’s where he lost me.”
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine repeated, “That’s not true,” while shaking her head, according to CNN’s Manu Raju. Idaho Sen. Jim Risch said the same thing while Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas laughed.
Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming said Schiff “offended every Republican senator” and denied that any of his GOP colleagues had ever heard such a threat.
In an interview on MSNBC, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was asked what happened.
The New York Democrat said he does not know if the CBS report is true, but noted, “The Republicans are so afraid to confront the actual facts here that are presented by the House managers that they’re always looking for a diversion.”
The Democrat-controlled House last month impeached Trump on two charges: obstruction of Congress and abuse of power by withholding aid to Ukraine to pressure its president to announces an investigation into former Vice President and presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter for the younger Biden’s work with a Ukrainian energy company.
Trump’s defense team is expected to offer brief, preliminary remarks on Saturday, reserving the bulk of its argument for Monday, when more people will be watching TV, senior Republican figures told the Washington Examiner.
