Biden admin keeps distance between WH and Dems' decision not to have witnesses at impeachment trial

Doug P. | 3:15 PM on February 13, 2021

At the Senate impeachment trial, the Democrats were against witnesses before they were for them and then ultimately against them again. Got that?

The Democrats making a deal to undo the vote to allow witnesses isn’t sitting well with many on the Left, and some are wondering if the Biden administration had anything to do with it.

Now I’m really curious if the White House quietly delivered a message to the Senate Dems.

— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) February 13, 2021

It would seem that the White House is going to keep a distance between themselves from the Democrat decision not to have witnesses and drag the trial out for several more weeks:

on Democrats’ decision to drop push for live witness testimony, senior Biden administration official tells me:

“no one here had any communications with them other than the logistics of getting the VP there in the unlikely event of a tie”

— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) February 13, 2021

A senior Biden administration official tells CNN's @JohnJHarwood, “we were not involved” in the Democratic House Impeachment Managers decision to pull the plug on witnesses.

— Ana Cabrera (@AnaCabrera) February 13, 2021

The Dem decision seems to be backfiring in some of the party ranks, so it’s not surprising that the Biden administration wouldn’t want to get within a mile of it.