Donald Trump was hard at “work” on Twitter Sunday, lashing out at rivals and foes and tilting at various windmills.
“George, ask Crazy Nancy why she allowed Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff to totally make up my conversation with the Ukrainian President & read his false words to Congress and the world, as though I said it?”, the president tweeted to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, just before he was set to interview the Speaker.
“He got caught!”, Trump went on scream. “Ask why hearing was most unfair & biased in history?”
All of that is plainly ridiculous and flagrantly unhinged. Stephanopoulos didn’t respond.
He did, however, ask Nancy Pelosi whether her strategy to delay sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate was worth it, considering she didn’t manage to extract any concessions from Mitch McConnell, who has variously insisted on sticking to the Clinton template, where that means a decision on witnesses won’t be made until after the House managers and Trump’s legal team have presented arguments.
On Friday, McConnell signed on to a resolution by GOP Senator Josh Hawley aimed at changing Senate rules in order to dismiss Trump’s impeachment if Pelosi doesn’t send over the articles, something she plans to do this week.
McConnell now has the votes to start the trial without an agreement on witnesses.
Read more: Mitch McConnell Still Not Sure Why Senate Needs Witnesses When Acquittal Is Foregone Conclusion
Pelosi told Stephanopoulos that irrespective of McConnell’s insistence on turning this into a sham, the delay was worth it.
“No, no, no”, the Speaker said, asked if she had second thoughts about the handling of things since Trump was impeached nearly a month ago.
The delay “produced a positive result”.
By that, she presumably means that voters (or the ones who care, anyway) have now seen a cache of e-mails released by the Center for Public Integrity which showed, among other things, that the Office of Management and Budget had misgivings about orchestrating a delay in the disbursement of congressionally-approved military aid to Ukraine.
Additionally, John Bolton announced he would testify if called. That prompted Trump to say he’d invoke executive privilege, which bolsters Democrats’ cover-up narrative (and it’s hardly a “narrative” – it’s the truth).
Referencing McConnell’s backing for the Hawley resolution, Pelosi called it still more evidence of a cover-up. “He will be accountable to the American people”, she said of Mitch, noting that irrespective of what the polls show about voters’ beliefs on impeachment, 70% believe there should be witnesses. She had already lambasted the Majority leader in a tweet.
By joining a resolution to dismiss, Sen. McConnell showed his true colors. Americans have now seen what is at stake in a fair trial with witnesses & evidence, and new evidence has emerged. Every Senator will have to vote: is their loyalty is to the President or the Constitution?
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 10, 2020
Finally, as far as Trump’s incessant references to her being “crazy” and to Schiff being “Shifty”, Pelosi told Stephanopoulos the following: “I don’t like to spend a lot of time on [the president]. Everything he says about someone else is a projection”.
