'TRUMP WON,' CNN ANALYST LAMENTS
Dem senator denies bid to prolong trial
is meant to benefit Biden or Bloomberg
***************************************'Irrelevant' that extended debate
keeps Sanders, Warren, Klobuchar,
Bennet off campaign trail as
rivals hit the stump in Iowa
***************************************Bloomberg cleared to vie in caucuses
This afternoon's Senate vote to bar witnesses from the impeachment trial of President Trump was met with groans from Democrats and liberals.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York termed the outcome a "tragedy."
CNN's legal analyst, Jeff Toobin, saw the vote as a victory for President Trump, saying Democrats had failed to achieve a decisive result.
"Give us the big picture, right now, of what we're seeing," said Wolf Blitzer, a top CNN anchor.
"Trump won," said Toobin. "I mean you know he's gonna win this trial. He won on the issue of witnesses," he added. "He's going to get acquitted — and that's how history will remember what went on here.
Toobin, like others in the anti-Trump camp, sought to portray the decision to wrap up the trial without reopening the investigation as a very bad idea.
In a related matter, one of three Democratic senators pressing to prolong the trial of President Trump was unfazed yesterday by the predicament of four Senate colleagues who will be kept penned up in Washington if the trial is stretched out.
"Totally irrelevant," snapped Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., when asked about the predicament of the four senators seeking the Democratic primary nomination whose non-senator rivals are campaigning vigorously to do well in the bell-weather Iowa caucuses.
Blumenthal rejected any criticism that Democrats are trying to extend the trial until past the Iowa caucuses, which would keep the four 2020 White House hopefuls away from the campaign trail. Some observers suspect Democrats wish to deny Trump acquittal, now a near certainty, before the President's State of the Union address Tuesday.
Blumenthal said the timing of these events is "totally irrelevant" to his desire to make Republicans debate impeachment trial measures in public, whatever the cost to his four colleagues.
"Pardon me for seeming somewhat cavalier about it, but we're talking about an impeachment trial," Blumenthal said. "Nothing we do as senators will be more important."
Blumenthal has teamed up with Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., to try to force extended public deliberations, which would violate current rules requiring impeachment debate to be held out of the public view.
But this evening the Senate voted mostly along party lines to bar reopening the investigation that the House had concluded. In a 51-49 vote, it was decided that former national security adviser John Bolton's testimony was unnecessary. But, sources told reporters that the trial is likely to be wrapped up on Wednesday, the day after the State of the Union address and two days after the Iowa primary.
Though the witness vote shows GOP resolve, the move for public debate is likely to be viewed favorably by many in the GOP, who have been muzzled during the presentation of the case, and who desire to explain their intention to vote for acquittal to the electorate.
On the other hand, Republican leaders had been pressing to dismiss the case rapidly. Senators were caucusing this evening to determine how to proceed for the remainder of the trial.
“Mitch McConnell wants this over as fast as possible with as little attention as possible,” Brown, D-Ohio, said today in outlining his desire for a rule change.
The rule change would need the support of 51 senators to pass.
The four penned-up senators — Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Michael F. Bennet of Colorado — cannot leave early without the high probability of being tarred for shirking their preeminent duty.
Yet, other candidates such as Joe Biden, the former vice president; Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind.; and Andrew Yang, an entrepreneur, are traveling around Iowa, trying to persuade caucus-goers to turn out — and stand in their respective corners — on Monday night. Also Mike Bloomberg, the billionaire media mogul and former New York City mayor, was cleared to participate in the Iowa caucuses.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York termed the outcome a "tragedy."
CNN's legal analyst, Jeff Toobin, saw the vote as a victory for President Trump, saying Democrats had failed to achieve a decisive result.
"Give us the big picture, right now, of what we're seeing," said Wolf Blitzer, a top CNN anchor.
"Trump won," said Toobin. "I mean you know he's gonna win this trial. He won on the issue of witnesses," he added. "He's going to get acquitted — and that's how history will remember what went on here.
Toobin, like others in the anti-Trump camp, sought to portray the decision to wrap up the trial without reopening the investigation as a very bad idea.
In a related matter, one of three Democratic senators pressing to prolong the trial of President Trump was unfazed yesterday by the predicament of four Senate colleagues who will be kept penned up in Washington if the trial is stretched out.
"Totally irrelevant," snapped Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., when asked about the predicament of the four senators seeking the Democratic primary nomination whose non-senator rivals are campaigning vigorously to do well in the bell-weather Iowa caucuses.
Blumenthal rejected any criticism that Democrats are trying to extend the trial until past the Iowa caucuses, which would keep the four 2020 White House hopefuls away from the campaign trail. Some observers suspect Democrats wish to deny Trump acquittal, now a near certainty, before the President's State of the Union address Tuesday.
Blumenthal said the timing of these events is "totally irrelevant" to his desire to make Republicans debate impeachment trial measures in public, whatever the cost to his four colleagues.
"Pardon me for seeming somewhat cavalier about it, but we're talking about an impeachment trial," Blumenthal said. "Nothing we do as senators will be more important."
Blumenthal has teamed up with Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., to try to force extended public deliberations, which would violate current rules requiring impeachment debate to be held out of the public view.
But this evening the Senate voted mostly along party lines to bar reopening the investigation that the House had concluded. In a 51-49 vote, it was decided that former national security adviser John Bolton's testimony was unnecessary. But, sources told reporters that the trial is likely to be wrapped up on Wednesday, the day after the State of the Union address and two days after the Iowa primary.
Though the witness vote shows GOP resolve, the move for public debate is likely to be viewed favorably by many in the GOP, who have been muzzled during the presentation of the case, and who desire to explain their intention to vote for acquittal to the electorate.
On the other hand, Republican leaders had been pressing to dismiss the case rapidly. Senators were caucusing this evening to determine how to proceed for the remainder of the trial.
“Mitch McConnell wants this over as fast as possible with as little attention as possible,” Brown, D-Ohio, said today in outlining his desire for a rule change.
The rule change would need the support of 51 senators to pass.
The four penned-up senators — Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Michael F. Bennet of Colorado — cannot leave early without the high probability of being tarred for shirking their preeminent duty.
Yet, other candidates such as Joe Biden, the former vice president; Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind.; and Andrew Yang, an entrepreneur, are traveling around Iowa, trying to persuade caucus-goers to turn out — and stand in their respective corners — on Monday night. Also Mike Bloomberg, the billionaire media mogul and former New York City mayor, was cleared to participate in the Iowa caucuses.
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