https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/480863-murkowski-to-vote-against-witnesses-dashing-democrats-hopes-of-extendingwomp womp
Murkowski is a
no vote, making it 51-49 barring any unexpected defections, and not even putting the whiff of the buck on justice roberts.
I was thinking today that after following both the Trump 'Ukraine' scandal and Ilhan Omar 'everything' scandal for a while, that when juxtaposed it really shows just how demented this affair has been. Everything in the house and senate trial has boiled down to "Media group A reports they have a source B with knowledge that person C witnessed person D talk to Trump and gain insight into his motives" or something thereabouts. That's what constitutes a 'bombshell'. The 'whistleblower' claimed that he heard from another person who reviewed the transcript. This morning the NYT tried very hard to inject some lifeblood at all into the withering impeachment by saying that their source claims Bolton's book says that Cipollone was in the room when Trump told Bolton to tell Zelensky that he should talk to Giuliani, or something like that. And apparently that means something. Like that scene from Spaceballs. And the big star witness that democrats want to call is a guy they think can testify that Trump told him about his
motives, so even if the facts remain the same scant details, they could show corrupt motive. Meanwhile in following the Omar scandal, there's an allegation she committed perjury because we have her writing on a document under penalty of perjury saying she had no contact with a guy, and also have pictures of her with that guy and social media messages between them. We have an allegation she committed tax fraud because we have her tax returns filed jointly with a man she wasn't married to, and a marriage certificate to another man. An allegation she committed campaign finance violations because we have the receipts. Etc etc.
Like those words of Paul Wellstone's speech 20 years ago I love to copy and paste so much, an impeachment is supposed to be a
higher bar than a criminal trial, because it puts not just the guilt or innocence of one man to the crucible, but the fate of the entire executive branch of government. Its supposed to not just raise beyond reasonable doubts, but be strong and unambiguous in fact and in law, requiring overwhelming support of the Senate and illegitimate if driven solely on partisan lines. As the old wendy's commercial put it, "Where's the beef?"
I'd say the President does deserve more attention than a House rep. That said, I fully believe we should hold all elected officials accountable and responsible.
I don't think we should go out of our way to protect any of them much when it comes to unlawful activity or corruption. It's not reversing an election, it's holding these men and women accountable. They are all easily replaceable to serve our country.