A spectacularly malevolent botching of a pandemic; a horrific economic collapse; and, now, a months-long effort to subvert the verdict of the majority of Americans who chose a new direction of robust government action to deal with these challenges, which Trump, backed by Republicans, did so much to inflict upon us.
In short, the Republican Party will do all it can to grind the Biden agenda to a halt, crippling our ability to act in the face of these major crises, not to mention other longer-term ones, such as stagnant wages, skyrocketing inequality and our warming planet.
[...]
Now that the vast majority of Senate Republicans voted to acquit former president Donald Trump of inciting violent insurrection, as we all knew they would, Democrats should immediately respond as follows:
1. Pass H.R.1 and S.1 with all deliberate speed.
2. Be prepared to nuke the legislative filibuster if and when Republicans obstruct it in the Senate.
3. Get the package into law as quickly as possible.
Here’s what the moment requires, above all: Democrats must accept the full implications of the GOP’s ongoing and intensifying radicalization. And they must be prepared to act upon them.
[...]
Even relatively “responsible” Republicans displayed this ongoing radicalization. GOP congressional leaders — such as Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) — refused to recognize Biden’s win for weeks. Then, after mouthing noises of disapproval about Trump’s election lies, they meekly backed off, all to keep Trump voters in the GOP coalition.
Trump’s acquittal only confirms what many observers had long pointed out: In some fundamental sense, much of the GOP is no longer functioning as an actor in a democracy.
[...]
[T]o remain competitive in national elections, Republicans will redouble their commitment to making it harder to vote and to rigging electoral maps to maximize their share of power relative to the proportion of actual votes they win.
This means being willing to exercise power while they have it to go big on covid relief and the economy — and mercifully, Democrats don’t appear to be chasing bipartisan support for its own sake. But it also means being willing to deploy power to prevent a quick return to national power for Republicans via minority rule, and the dysfunction, disillusionment and resurgence of authoritarianism that this would bring.
[...]
For Democrats to act boldly out of a forthright appreciation of these circumstances does not rule out all bipartisan cooperation. One can see Democrats working with a handful of GOP senators on things such as an expanded child tax credit or infrastructure repair. But it does mean accepting the need to act forcefully to neutralize the GOP’s reliance on anti-democratic tactics, which will only get worse.
[...]
It’s [...] inspiring that the election went relatively smoothly, due to the heroic diligence of countless election workers across the country — including many Republicans who bucked their party’s lurch into authoritarianism — amid brutal and unpredictable pandemic conditions and a hyper-charged atmosphere of violent civil conflict.
But Trump’s acquittal by so many Republicans after an unprecedented effort to overthrow U.S. democracy also hints at the fragility of those gains. Fully realizing the potential of civic renewal embedded in this moment will require Democrats to accept the full implications of this ongoing radicalization — and to act upon them.
WaPo
Not all Americans, all "our people".In a statement shortly after the acquittal, Trump called the trial “yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our nation”.
“Our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to Make America Great Again has only just begun,” he said.
“In the months ahead, I have much to share with you, and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people,” he added.
alJazeera
I believe the next largest number was 1. And that was Mitt Romney in the first Trump impeachment.Though Trump was acquitted of the sole charge of incitement of insurrection, seven Republicans joined all Democrats to convict the former president. The figure marked the largest number of Senators to ever vote to find a president of their own party guilty of an impeachment count of high crimes and misdemeanours.
They'll all suffer blowback in the short run. In the long run, they'll be remembered as the only Republicans with integrity and courage.They were Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania.
As do we.“If I can't say what I believe that our president should stand for, then why should I ask Alaskans to stand with me?” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in a lengthy interview after she joined six other Republicans to convict Trump. “This was consequential on many levels, but I cannot allow the significance of my vote, to be devalued by whether or not I feel that this is helpful for my political ambitions.”
Trump won Alaska by 10 points in 2020, a sign that many in the state will be upset about her vote.
[...]
The moderate Republican also voted against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, considered convicting Trump in 2020 and bristled at her party’s moves to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court before the November election last fall.
[...]
As she entered her Capitol hideaway to finish her official statement on her vote to convict Trump, she gestured at where there had been trash and broken glass from rioters that desecrated the building and recalled the sound of a police officer “retching” because he’d been sprayed with pepper spray. She said what made her “soul happy” on Saturday was the memory that Congress finished certifying the election later that day.
“We did it because we had some extraordinary men and women that were willing to stand up and defend and protect. And that was good,” she said. “I just wish that Donald Trump had been one of them.”
Politico
Bingo.While Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and his members had prepared for the possibility of voting on witnesses, they got no warning that the lead House prosecutor was about to force a vote that could have prolonged the trial for days or weeks. The impeachment managers spent Friday night and Saturday morning wrestling with the question themselves and made the final decision at the last minute, according to Democratic sources.
The managers debated until 3 a.m. Saturday on how to proceed, according to two Democrats familiar with the negotiations. Schumer communicated to them that his 50-member caucus would support whatever decision they landed on.
[...]
Then Senate Democrats held a 9 a.m. Saturday conference call where members still indicated they were in the dark about House Democratic managers’ plans. The managers didn’t make the final call to force a Senate vote until minutes before the Senate gaveled in at 10 a.m., Democrats said.
[...]
As Senate Democrats huddled on their call, their party's impeachment managers initiated outreach to at least some of the ten House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, according to multiple sources. The exact nature of those conversations remains unclear -- but what happened next shocked everyone.
The Senate quickly moved to a bipartisan 55-45 vote to consider possible witnesses.
[...]
But after they voted to move forward, House managers had no real plan for what to do next, according to a Democrat familiar with the negotiations: “Senate Democrats gave them the votes, but the managers didn’t know what their next step was.”
Multiple sources close to the impeachment managers disputed that claim, saying instead it was significant pressure from Senate Democrats that resulted in their decision to change course. The House managers wanted to bring Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) in to testify, only relenting after receiving pushback from multiple Senate Democrats, they said.
[...]
During the Senate break after the witness vote Saturday, Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) twice came into the managers’ room off the Senate floor, according to multiple Democratic sources. Coons pressed House Democrats to relent, saying their quest for witnesses would cost them Republican votes to convict and maybe even some Democrats.
"The jury is ready to vote," Coons told the managers, according to a senior House Democratic aide. "People want to get home for Valentine‘s Day."
UPDATE:Coons later returned a second time to urge the managers to take a deal with Trump's lawyers to enter what House Democrats viewed as damning evidence from Herrera Beutler into the record. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) also approached a House manager in the hallway to urge them against calling witnesses, according to sources close to the managers.
[...]
A Coons spokesperson said that the senator "was simply conveying to the House managers that several of his Republican colleagues told him there were no more votes on their side and their members were ready to fly home. It is unfortunate that apparently no amount of additional evidence was going to convince 10 more of his Republican colleagues of Donald Trump’s guilt."
Politico
No one from the White House. Unconscionable.Hiding from the rioters in a secret location away from the Capitol, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) appealed to Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) phoned Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter.
And Kellyanne Conway, a longtime Trump confidante and former White House senior adviser, called an aide who she knew was standing at the president’s side.
[...]
Trump ultimately — and begrudgingly — urged his supporters to “go home in peace.” But the six hours between when the Capitol was breached shortly before 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon and when it was finally declared secure around 8 p.m. that evening reveal a president paralyzed — more passive viewer than resolute leader, repeatedly failing to perform even the basic duties of his job.
[...]
“He was hard to reach, and you know why? Because it was live TV,” said one close Trump adviser. “If it’s TiVo, he just hits pause and takes the calls. If it’s live TV, he watches it, and he was just watching it all unfold.”
Even as he did so, Trump did not move to act. And the message from those around him — that he needed to call off the angry mob he had egged on just hours earlier, or lives could be lost — was one to which he was not initially receptive.
“It took him awhile to appreciate the gravity of the situation,” Graham said in an interview. “The president saw these people as allies in his journey and sympathetic to the idea that the election was stolen.”
[...]
The man who has always seen himself as the protector of uniformed police sat idly by as Capitol Police officers were outnumbered, outmaneuvered, trampled on — and in one case, killed. And the man who had long craved the power of the presidency abdicated many of the responsibilities of the commander in chief.
[...]
An aide called Trump Jr. and suggested he immediately issue a statement urging the rioters to stop. At 2:17 p.m., Trump Jr. hit send on a tweet as he boarded the plane: “This is wrong and not who we are,” he wrote. “Be peaceful and use your 1st Amendment rights, but don’t start acting like the other side. We have a country to save and this doesn’t help anyone.”
But the president himself was busy enjoying the spectacle. Trump watched with interest, buoyed to see that his supporters were fighting so hard on his behalf, one close adviser said.
[...]
[Kellyanne] Conway immediately called a close personal aide who she knew was with the president, and said she was adding her name to the chorus of people urging Trump to speak to his supporters. He needed to tell them to stand down and leave the Capitol, she told the aide.
Conway also told the aide that she had received calls from the D.C. mayor’s office asking for help in getting Trump to call up the National Guard.
Ivanka Trump had gone to the Oval Office as soon as the riot became clear, and Graham reached her on her cellphone and implored her for help.
[...]
Several Republican members of Congress also called White House aides, begging them to get Trump’s attention and have him call for the violence to end. The lawmakers reiterated that they had been loyal Trump supporters and were even willing to vote against the electoral college results — but were now scared for their lives, officials said.
When the mob first breached the Capitol, coming within mere seconds of entering the Senate chamber, Pence — who was overseeing the electoral certification — was hustled away to a secure location, where he remained for the duration of the siege, despite multiple suggestions from his Secret Service detail that he leave the Capitol, said an official familiar with Pence’s actions that day.
Instead, the vice president fielded calls from congressional leaders furious that the National Guard had not yet been deployed, this official said. Pence, from his secret location in the Capitol, spoke with legislative and military leaders, working to mobilize the soldiers and offering reassurance.
[...]
Trump never called the vice president to check on him or his family. Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff, eventually called the White House to let them know that Pence and his team were okay, after receiving no outreach from the president or anyone else in the White House.
WaPo
Not to mention "stay" implies they were peaceful at the time.[Chief of Staff Mark] Meadows’s staff had prompted him to go see the president, with one aide telling the chief of staff before he entered the Oval Office, “They are going to kill people.”
Shortly after 2:30 p.m., the group finally persuaded Trump to send a tweet: “Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement,” he wrote. “They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!”
But the Twitter missive was insufficient, and the president had not wanted to include the final instruction to “stay peaceful,” according to one person familiar with the discussions.
So in an incredibly callous and telling move, he called Senator Tuberville, who was hiding from insurrectionists, to urge him to try harder to delay the count.Less than an hour later, aides persuaded Trump to send a second, slightly more forceful tweet: “I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful,” he wrote. “No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order — respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!
McCarthy did eventually reach Trump, but later told allies that he found the president distracted. So McCarthy repeatedly appeared on television to describe the mayhem, an adviser said, in an effort to explain just how dire the situation was.
McCarthy also called Kushner, who that afternoon was arriving back from a trip to the Middle East. The Secret Service originally warned Kushner that it was unsafe to venture downtown to the White House. McCarthy pleaded with him to persuade Trump to issue a statement for his supporters to leave the Capitol, saying he’d had no luck during his own conversation with Trump, the adviser said. So Kushner headed to the White House.
At one point, Trump worried that the unruly group was frightening GOP lawmakers from doing his bidding and objecting to the election results, an official said.
So he refused to go to Biden's inauguration.Speaking on ABC News shortly before 4 p.m. Wednesday, Chris Christie, a GOP former governor of New Jersey, said he’d spent the last 25 minutes trying to reach Trump directly to convey a simple, if urgent, message.
“The president caused this protest to occur; he’s the only one who can make it stop,” Christie said. “The president has to come out and tell his supporters to leave the Capitol grounds and to allow the Congress to do their business peacefully. And anything short of that is an abdication of his responsibility.”
[...]
Around this time, the White House was preparing to put out a video address on behalf of the president.
[...]
Trump aides did three takes of the video and chose the most palatable option — despite some West Wing consternation that the president had called the violent protesters “very special.”
“This was a fraudulent election, but we can’t play into the hands of these people,” Trump said in the video, released shortly after 4 p.m. “We have to have peace. So go home. We love you. You’re very special. You’ve seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel. But go home, and go home in peace.”
[...]
At 6:01 p.m., Trump blasted out yet another tweet, which Twitter quickly deleted and which many in his orbit were particularly furious about, fearing he was further inflaming the still-tense situation.
“These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long,” Trump wrote. “Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”
The following evening, on Thursday, Trump released another video, the closest advisers say he is likely to come to a concession speech.
“Congress has certified the results: A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20th,” Trump said in the video. “My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly, and seamless transition of power. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation.”
His calls for healing and reconciliation were more than a day too late, many aides said. Yet as Trump watched the media coverage of his video, he grew angry.
The president said he wished he hadn’t done it, a senior White House official said, because he feared that the calming words made him look weak.
Which would have no bearing on Trump's culpability. But the bigger problem is this:Though many Senate Democrats have indicated they don’t believe witnesses are necessary to prove that Trump incited the deadly riots that overran the Capitol, new developments have hinted at startling details that could be unearthed if the Senate trial pauses and House impeachment managers are allowed to depose several witnesses.
And a handful of Senate Republicans weighing Trump’s conviction have indicated that these details could be decisive.
In particular, the group of Senate Republicans considering conviction want to know what Trump did while the violence overtook the Capitol. Trump’s defense team has argued that he was immediately “horrified” by what unfolded and took swift action to send aid to Congress. But that account conflicts with those of Trump’s closest allies and news reports citing his top aides. And the House prosecutors have underscored that Trump did virtually nothing to quell the riots as the violence mounted.
[...]
Late Friday, a previously revealed anecdote took on new life when Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) pleaded with Pence and others close to Trump to reveal what they know. Herrera Beutler, one of 10 House Republicans to vote for Trump’s impeachment, reiterated an account of a conversation that Trump had with House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy while rioters ransacked the Capitol.
Herrera Beutler said that in McCarthy’s telling, he pleaded with Trump to call off his supporters. Trump initially responded by denying they were his backers and attributing the breach to left-wing extremists. McCarthy, per Herrera Beutler, rejected Trump’s claim, to which Trump purportedly responded “I guess these people are just more angry about the election and upset than you are.”
Both Tuberville and Herrera Beutler’s anecdotes have revived the witness debate, prompting one Senate Democrat — who just hours earlier on Friday said calling witnesses would be unnecessary — to suggest pausing the trial to depose McCarthy ad Tuberville.
[...]
While a handful of Democrats still indicated they felt witnesses were unnecessary and might prolong the inevitable, others continued to suggest Saturday morning that they'd like to hear from McCarthy, Tuberville or others.
[...]
Responding to these developments, a source close to the Trump legal team suggested that if Democrats pursued these witnesses, the trial would get "real ugly, real fast."
"The first two witnesses that we would call would be Nancy Pelosi and Muriel Bowser. And they can explain why they rejected additional security and national guard help," said the Trump team source.
Politico
Who's surprised?"The call for witnesses has absolutely nothing to do with the actual article of impeachment that has been filed. The article of impeachment is very specific to incitement," the source said, echoing an argument lodged by Trump attorney Mark van der Veen Friday.
[...]
As the witness question loomed, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell signaled to colleagues that he would be voting to acquit Trump.
That's gonna be aproblem. They have no conscience,[Philadelphia] Commissioner Al Schmidt late Friday tweeted a message directed at McConnell, writing, “The former POTUS incited supporters to threaten to kill my children and put their ‘heads on spikes’ because we counted votes cast by eligible voters. They named my children and included my home address in the threats.”
“Please consider when voting your conscience,” Schmidt added.
The Hill
There are two lies there, and Van der Veen knows he's lying. One, Senator Tuberville has said numerous times that he told Trump Pence had been hustled out. Time to call him as a witness. Van der Veen denies it only because he understands the House managers will not call witnesses.In the trial's question-and-answer session Friday, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, asked whether Trump knew that Pence was being evacuated from the Capitol as the former president composed a tweet condemning Pence for not having the "courage" to stop then-President-elect Joe Biden's election victory.
"When President Trump sent the disparaging tweet at 2:24 p.m., was he aware that the vice president had been removed from the Senate by the Secret Service for his safety?" Romney asked.
[...]
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the lead impeachment manager, was first to respond to Romney's question. He noted the events of Jan. 6 were broadcast on live television and on the radio, saying Trump had to know that the rioters had already breached the building and were armed with weapons, and that the police were outnumbered.
[...]
Raskin also noted remarks by Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, who has told reporters that he spoke to Trump over the phone as the mob began ransacking the Capitol. During their brief conversation, Tuberville said he told the former president that Pence had been evacuated from the chamber moments earlier.
"Sen. Tuberville specifically said that he told the president, 'Mr. President, they just took the vice president out, I've got to go,' " Raskin said.
That conversation took place shortly after 2 p.m., Raskin noted.
Trump's lawyers on Friday pushed back on the impeachment managers' account.
"At no point was the president informed the vice president was in any danger," Michael van der Veen argued, adding that there is "nothing at all in record on this point." Van der Veen also accused the House impeachment managers of failing to do their due diligence on this issue.
"What the president did know is that there was a violent riot happening at the Capitol," van der Veen said. "That's why he repeatedly called via tweet and via video for the riots to stop, to be peaceful, to respect Capitol police and law enforcement and to commit no violence and go home."
NPR
Van der Veen has no idea only if he's had his eyes closed and ears plugged throughout the trial, and indeed since January 6.Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who says he is undecided on whether he'll vote to convict Trump, asked for more details regarding Tuberville's account of the call with Trump and his tweet railing against Pence.
"Does this show that President Trump was tolerant of the intimidation of Vice President Pence?" Cassidy asked.
But again, van der Veen disputed the sequence of events, calling discussion of Tuberville's call "hearsay."
"I have a problem with the facts in the question because I have no idea," van der Veen responded.
Cassidy told reporters later that he didn't think his question got a good answer.
Which was also in his response to the later question from Cassidy.Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska asked Trump’s lawyers to lay out what Trump knew and when he knew it, adding that they should be as “detailed as possible.”
Trump attorney Michael van der Veen had no answer to that question other than to point a 2:38 p.m. tweet that day by Trump — and immediately pivoted to blame Democratic House impeachment managers for the lack of clarity on the question, suggesting that they had failed to uncover those details in their investigation.
KRDO
“Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement [...] They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!”
To be sure, Trump's lawyers have a losing case, but they don't have to put on a good defense, because half of the jury are accomplices.There was lots of video on the day of the greatest Trump lawyering of all. Mostly the same video, played over and over again, sometimes two or three times in quick succession like a Max Headroom compilation of politicians saying the word “fight”.
[...]
The strike force featured a new striker. Not the bumbling, rambling Bruce Castor, or the endlessly pedantic David Schoen. No, this time Trump bestowed upon his historic impeachment trial a personal injury lawyer from – yes, you guessed it – Philadelphia. An ambulance chaser, best known in Philly for his radio ads, asking if you’ve tripped while walking down the street.
“If the walkway isn’t clear, and you fall and get hurt due to snow and ice, call 215-546-1000 for Van der Veen, O’Neill, Hartshorn and Levin,” the ads say, according to the Washington Post. “The V is for Victory.”
Last year Mr V was actually suing Trump for his unfounded claims about mail-in voter fraud.
[...]
To his great, sighing chagrin, Mr V lamented the state of political discourse. “Inflammatory rhetoric from our elected officials – from both sides of the aisle – has been alarming, frankly,” he said, in sorrow, as if his client were just a hapless symptom of a bigger sickness: a pandemic of mean words from Democrats.
“This is not whataboutism,” he declared, after rolling his whataboutist video for the second or third or fourth time. “I’m showing you this to show that all political speech must be protected.”
[...]
“Mr Trump did the opposite of advocating for lawless action,” said Mr V. “The opposite!”
This is only true if it’s opposite day, when opposite means the opposite of opposite.
[...]
Bruce Castor, concluded the defense case. Castor explained that because he was the lead attorney in this legal shenanigan, he was going to take “the most substantive part” of the case for himself. That wasn’t to say, he added hastily, that his learned friends had done a bad job, oh no. The good news, he said, was that the case was almost over. The bad news was that it would take another hour for it to be over.
[...]
“Did the 45th president engage in incitement – they say insurrection,” began Castor. “Clearly there was no insurrection,” he continued, defining the word as “taking the TV stations over and having some idea of what you’re going to do when you take power”.
[...]
Now all we have left is the hypocrisy and false indignation of Republican senators who value their own careers above their own lives or the democracy that elected them. The V is for venal.
Guardian
There are now two (at least) witnesses House Managers should call tomorrow: Tuberville to clear up the issue of whether Trump knew Pence was in danger and when, and McCarthy, to verify this report.In an expletive-laced phone call with House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy while the Capitol was under attack, then-President Donald Trump said the rioters cared more about the election results than McCarthy did.
"Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are," Trump said, according to lawmakers who were briefed on the call afterward by McCarthy.
McCarthy insisted that the rioters were Trump's supporters and begged Trump to call them off.
But the Senate GOP are going to vote to acquit.A furious McCarthy told the President the rioters were breaking into his office through the windows, and asked Trump, "Who the f--k do you think you are talking to?" according to a Republican lawmaker familiar with the call.
The newly revealed details of the call, described to CNN by multiple Republicans briefed on it, provide critical insight into the President's state of mind as rioters were overrunning the Capitol.
[...]
The Republican members of Congress said the exchange showed Trump had no intention of calling off the rioters even as lawmakers were pleading with him to intervene. Several said it amounted to a dereliction of his presidential duty.
They've patched things up.Trump's comment about the would-be insurrectionists caring more about the election results than McCarthy did was first mentioned by Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Republican from Washington state, in a town hall earlier this week, and was confirmed to CNN by Herrera Beutler and other Republicans briefed on the conversation.
"You have to look at what he did during the insurrection to confirm where his mind was at," Herrera Beutler told CNN. "That line right there demonstrates to me that either he didn't care, which is impeachable, because you cannot allow an attack on your soil, or he wanted it to happen and was OK with it, which makes me so angry."
[...]
As senators prepare to determine Trump's fate, multiple Republicans thought the details of the call were important to the proceedings because they believe it paints a damning portrait of Trump's lack of action during the attack. At least one of the sources who spoke to CNN took detailed notes of McCarthy's recounting of the call.
Trump and McCarthy did not respond to requests for comment.
They're meeting tomorrow.It's unclear to what extent these new details were known by the House Democratic impeachment managers or whether the team considered calling McCarthy as a witness. The managers have preserved the option to call witnesses in the ongoing impeachment trial, although that option remains unlikely as the trial winds down.
Well, that's not surprising, as they know no matter what they do or don't do, the case has already been decided.As many as 15 seats of Republican senators were empty during the first few hours of the trial Thursday, compared to just a handful of Democrats who were outside of the chamber, according to pool reports.
[...]
Many within the chamber were preoccupied with other activities: Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) were reading papers, while, according to CNN’s Jeremy Herb, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) “had a blank map of Asia on his desk and was writing on it like he was filling in the names of the countries.”
[...]
Even Trump’s lawyers were checked out, with David Schoen and Bruce Castor reportedly not taking notes and Schoen even leaving the chamber to speak to reporters and participate in several TV news interviews.
Forbes
If you're a Republican, you don't have to make sense.“It’s the same as yesterday and the same as the day before… it’s just redundant. The same thing, over and over again,” Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) told reporters of impeachment managers’ arguments on Thursday. “To me, the more you hear it, the less credibility there is in it.”
