Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer slammed his Republican counterpart after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced a resolution laying out the rules of President Trump’s impeachment trial.
The New York Democrat released a statement immediately after McConnell introduced the resolution to the Senate on Monday and accused McConnell of attempting to “hide information and evidence from the American people.”
“Sen. McConnell repeatedly promised senators, the public, and the press that his rules for the trial would be the same as the rules for President Clinton’s trial. After reading his resolution, it’s clear Sen. McConnell is hell-bent on making it much more difficult to get witnesses and documents and intent on rushing the trial through,” Schumer, 69, said.
“On something as important as impeachment, Sen. McConnell’s resolution is nothing short of a national disgrace,” he continued.
After reading his resolution, it’s clear Sen. McConnell is hell-bent on making it much more difficult to get witnesses & documents and intent on rushing the trial through
On something as important as impeachment—Sen. McConnell’s resolution is nothing short of a national disgrace pic.twitter.com/hyDVTYqdC5
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 20, 2020
Schumer built on his statement in a press conference later that evening. He said that the Senate rules for Clinton’s 1999 impeachment trial allowed the president to file to dismiss the charges only after opening arguments were heard. McConnell’s resolution allows Trump’s team to motion to dismiss at any time, though such a motion filed before opening arguments is likely to fail, as many Republican lawmakers have said they want to hear the House managers’ case.
“So, this resolution is totally departing from the Clinton resolution in significant ways, despite what leader McConnell promised,” Schumer said. “And in the ways it departs, the evidence is less available, the evidence is given in the wee hours of the morning and may never be produced at all. It’s a cover-up; it’s a national disgrace.”
He added, “We hope that four brave Republicans will resist McConnell’s cover-up, will resist McConnell just going along with President Trump, who everyone knows doesn’t want the truth to be heard. They’ll reverse this. The fate of honor in the republic is on their shoulders.”
Under McConnell’s resolution, House impeachment managers have 24 hours spread over two days to argue why Trump should be impeached. The terms for the opening argument differ slightly from Clinton’s impeachment trial in that House managers then had 24 hours over three days to make their case, and they had to split time with Clinton’s defense team.
The Senate is scheduled to vote on the resolution on Tuesday.
