Schiff called unifying force . . . for Republicans

FPI / January 23, 2020

The Democrats’ lead impeachment manager has become a unifying force — for Republicans.

“The more we hear from Adam Schiff, the more the GOP is getting unified against this partisan charade!” Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, tweeted on Wednesday.

Paul, who has been a staunch defender of President Donald Trump, also told The Washington Post that there currently are 45 GOP senators who are willing to dismiss the impeachment articles.

"There are 45, with about five to eight wanting to hear a little more," Paul said of his Republican colleagues in the Senate. “I still would like to dismiss it, but there aren’t the votes to do it just yet.”

Paul told the Post that he will continue trying to rally his GOP colleagues to gain their support for wrapping up the trial quickly.

After the House voted for impeachment in December, Paul said: "This has been unnecessary, distracting, and counterproductive. The Senate will not continue this partisan abuse of power and should at once put an end to the charade."

During his marathon opening argument on Wednesday, Schiff dusted off debunked conspiracy theories of Trump-Russia collusion and implied that America’s voters aren’t smart enough to make a fair choice this November.

Schiff “spent his opening arguments trying to relitigate the fake ‘Russia collusion’ narrative,” Republican Rep. Jim Jordan tweeted, adding, “Never forget that Adam Schiff supposedly had 'more than circumstantial evidence' of collusion. He misled the American people then, he’s misleading them now.”

Schiff also seemed to say that American voters can’t be trusted to make the right decision this November.

“The president’s misconduct cannot be decided at the ballot box, for we cannot be assured that the vote will be fairly won,” Schiff said.

Schiff also claimed that the withholding of military assistance to Ukraine was directly responsible for Ukrainian soldiers being killed by “Russian forces and their proxies.”

There is no evidence that Ukrainian soldiers were deprived of necessary equipment during the brief time the aid was withheld.

House Republicans attempted to censure Schiff last year when he read out a false transcript of Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

One of the notable impeachment trial comments of the day came from Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas.

In an appearance on Fox News’s “The Ingraham Angle”, Cotton told host Laura Ingraham that he had consumed some milk during Wednesday’s proceedings (the senators, who are the trial’s jurors, are only permitted to have water and milk).

Cotton said: "I guess I could've put some vodka in it — minus the Kahlua — that would've been a White Russian. But I think Adam Schiff might've accused me of collusion if I would've had a White Russian to drink."

Free Press International