Over the last two days, the Senate has been going through tedious question and answer sessions over the issues in the impeachment of Donald J. Trump. I did not write a post yesterday because the Q&A sessions are nothing more than theater. There is nothing new I can offer readers that is not already available in different places.
The questions are choreographed to the House Managers and Trump’s lawyers so that they can rebut each other or point out self-serving points they want to make.
However, there are three things that I believe merits pointing out.
Witnesses
The question of whether there will be witnesses remains unanswered. It is likely we will not know until the vote is held as early as today.
The Dershowitz Argument
Likely the most controversial answer and, in my opinion, the most ridiculous is the one from attorney Alan Dershowitz. Dershowitz argued that wanting to be reelected is “in the public interest” because a candidate feels they are the best answer to the issues facing the constituencies.
According to Dershowitz, the motive for wanting to be reelected is in the “public interest”. Thus, there is no quid pro quo because Trump asked for an investigation into the Bidens because the public interest was in him being reelected.
In The You Can’t Make This Up Column
Yesterday, during the question and answer session, Representative Adam Schiff (D), one of the House Managers made a poignant point in one of his responses.
Schiff pointed out that while Donald J. Trump’s lawyers are arguing that the House should have pursued witnesses instead of waiting on the Senate to do it for them, the White House lawyers were telling a court that “impeachment” is the remedy Congress has when it can’t enforce its subpoenas.
Yes, you understood that correctly, while Trump’s lawyers are arguing that the House did not do enough before impeaching Trump, Department of Justice lawyers were arguing that the remedy for a White House not complying is “impeachment”.
Drawing laughter, Schiff correctly uttered, “you can’t make this up”.
