New: Sen Graham will reject request by GOP Rep Jim Banks to subpoena Schiff’s phone logs. “I don’t have any desire to subpoena Adam Schiff’s phone records. We’re not going to do that. When members start subpoenaing each other as part of Oversight, the whole system breaks down.”— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) December 5, 2019
may have just come a cropper (ask your grandpa, punks!).
The basic idea of subpoenaing Congressional members as witnesses because you don't like how they've run impeachment hearings is a serious breakdown of the system which I don't think 50% + 1 of the Senate will countenance. Nobody on the Dems side is calling for hearings into Nunes, except maybe before the Ethics Committee. I think Graham is signaling a clear disinterest in what Trump is clamoring for; which may protect Biden, too, as a former Senator, although not necessarily Hunter Biden (and then we're in interesting territory: does Hunter defy a Congressional supbpoena, and if so does the Senate suspend until the courts can rule on its propriety? It's the stuff ConLaw professors dream about: a subpoena issued under the authority of the Chief Justice as presiding judicial officer of an impeachment trial being reviewed by a trial court (at least).
Honestly, that would be fun. But Trump's dream trial of putting all his enemies on the stand and cross-examining them as if he were Perry Mason? Yeah, not gonna happen.
I wish that when the Republicans on House Judiciary did their stunt of asking for Schiff to testify, instead of moving to table, a Democrat had moved amend it to include Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan. Of course, that wouldn't happen but I think it would have looked better to see Republicans vote down on that than what happened. I think the Democrats are too orderly and not dirty enough.
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling Hunter Biden did lots of stuff I wouldn't like - he was on some pretty dodgy corporate boards - but that's not illegal. I think if Lindsey had tried to subpoena H. Biden Democrats could have demanded Guiliani get one too.
The Senators have a say, and they can't be anxious for the trial to become a clown court. They know if H. Biden comes, so does Giuliani. Or I've seen suggestions of Kushner. And then this trial runs for 8 weeks, or 10.
ReplyDeleteI don't think so.
If it were Trump's fantasy he'd be like Jubilation T. Porn Cohn.
ReplyDelete