McConnell: In 'total coordination' with White House for impeachment trial [View all]

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Source: USA Today



WASHINGTON- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Thursday that he will be in "total coordination with the White House counsel" as the impeachment into President Donald Trump presses forward.

During an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, the Majority Leader said that "everything" he does "during this, I'm coordinating with the White House counsel. There will be no difference between the president's position and our position as to how to handle this, to the extent that we can."

More:Gaetz brought up Hunter Biden's substance abuse issues at impeachment but it backfired

"We don't have the kind of ball control on this that a typical issue, for example, comes over from the House, if I don't like it, we don't take it up," McConnell stated about an impeachment trial. "We have no choice but to take it up, but we'll be working through this process, hopefully in a fairly short period of time, in total coordination with White House counsel's office and the people who are representing the President in the well of the Senate."

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/12/12/mcconnell-total-coordination-white-house-impeachment-trial/4416518002/

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On impeachment, McConnell vows ‘total coordination’ with Team Trump


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/impeachment-mcconnell-vows-total-coordination-team-trump
12/13/19 08:00 AM—Updated 12/13/19 08:30 AM
By Steve Benen

In late September, as Donald Trump’s Ukraine scandal started to come into focus, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) demurred in response to reporters’ questions, explaining that she’d likely be “a juror” in the president’s impeachment trial. To draw conclusions about Trump’s guilt or the merits of the allegations, the senator said, might suggest she was “prejudging” the accused.

There are, of course, key qualitative differences between an actual trial in an American courtroom and a presidential impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate, but in a broad sense, senators do serve as jurors. In theory, they have a responsibility to weigh the seriousness of the allegations, consider the evidence, and decide the fate of the accused.

But as Trump’s impeachment process advances, some Republicans are comfortable abandoning the pretense of independence and impartiality. USA Today reported overnight:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Thursday that he will be in “total coordination with the White House counsel” as the impeachment into President Donald Trump presses forward.

During an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, the Majority Leader said that “everything” he does “during this, I’m coordinating with the White House counsel. There will be no difference between the president’s position and our position as to how to handle this, to the extent that we can.”

Oh. So despite weeks of GOP senators occasionally sidestepping questions about the White House scandal, claiming that they’re jurors who want to maintain the appearance of neutrality, Mitch McConnell – in effect, the jury foreman – is coordinating with the defendant’s lawyers............................