Senate Republicans say they have yet to hear a new argument from Democratic impeachment managers seeking to convince members President Trump should be removed from office.
“So far, we haven’t heard anything new from what we heard yesterday, and I hope this isn’t just going to be a series of repetitious arguments just to try to fill the time allotted. That’s sort of what it feels like right now,” Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn told reporters during a break three hours into the second day of the impeachment trial.
Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso agreed, saying, “Well, I’m going to wait to hear what the House managers have to say — nothing new today. Then we’re going to hear the president’s defense.”
When asked why the arguments of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff were not compelling to him, Cornyn said, “It’s what I would call ‘argument of counsel.’”
Cornyn, a former Texas state Supreme Court justice and attorney general, said, “It’s not evidence. If he’s got evidence, then we’d be happy to hear the evidence, and, traditionally, in a trial, you would have counsel sort of have an opening statement and then follow it up with evidence, but ‘argument of counsel’ isn’t considered any evidence.”
