Today’s outrage? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he’d be “coordinating with White House counsel” when impeachment head to the Senate:
McConnell on Fox. Says he is "coordinating with White House counsel" on Senate trial. Says there is "no difference between the President's position and our position on how to handle this."
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 13, 2019
Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Dashcle quickly told journos that this would be inappropriate since when he was in charge of things, he did not coordinate with the Clinton White House
. @TomDaschle, who led Senate Democrats during President Clinton’s 1999 impeachment trial, tells me: “I felt strongly that, as a "juror", contact or coordination with the White House was not appropriate… 1/2 https://t.co/Fk3AhnO78V
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) December 13, 2019
“Time have changed,” he commented:
… “I had no conversations with the President or his staff during the entire time of the proceedings… Times have changed.” 2/2
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) December 13, 2019
And then this sanctimonious blowhard had to walk that back as his staff DID coordinate with the Clinton White House:
. @TomDaschle tells me just now: "My former staff reminded me this morning that while I was not in contact with the White House during the trial, they were. There was a need to coordinate on many levels. So I want to be sure that I didn't give you the wrong impression." https://t.co/d3sAvtM5l7
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) December 13, 2019
In other words, McConnell is just going to do what Daschle did:
Congressional Democrats are questioning Mitch McConnell's ability to lead a possible Senate trial to remove Trump from office, after McConnell vowed "total coordination" with the White House on impeachment planshttps://t.co/LdW8pIsnM9
— Axios (@axios) December 13, 2019
And we eagerly await the outrage brigade’s reaction to all of this, because they were pretty pissed at McConnell over it. Some examples:
Mitch McConnell's stunning and outrageous admission that he is in the tank already for Trump on the trial rules, is a flat violation of the oath he will take as a juror. If a jury foreman in a murder trial was found to have worked closely with the defense he would be prosecuted.
— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) December 13, 2019
People ask me when I think protest is appropriate and matters, since I'm usually not a fan.
This, right here, should bring people into the streets of every state with a Republican senator. This is a direct attack on the Constitution, not by Trump, but by an entire party. https://t.co/1BtyKd4w4d— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) December 13, 2019
“I’m going to take my cues from the president’s lawyers.”
— Mitch McConnell
Shouldn’t McConnell take his cues from 1) the Constitution, 2) the rules and precedents of the Senate, and 3) the requirements of a real and fair trial? https://t.co/4FjTJSfTxs— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) December 13, 2019
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