After a rebellion from some Republicans, Mitch McConnell changed his Senate rules to admit the House evidence and allow arguments over three days.
NBC News reported:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell changed a controversial provision in the rules for the impeachment trial that would have required House prosecutors and White House lawyers to make 24 hours of legal arguments in just two days and could have barred evidence gathered by the House.
The last-minute change was revealed on Tuesday as the organizing resolution for President Donald Trump’s Senate trial was being read into the record on the Senate floor. The new version gives both side 24 hours to make their case over three days, instead of the two initially proposed by McConnell on Monday.
McConnell actually made the changes by hand on the Senate floor:
Changes to McConnell’s resolution were made by hand, suggesting to me they happened LATE, like maybe just after the GOP lunch today, and before trial started at 1:15. pic.twitter.com/GTZ8VcIiGE
— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) January 21, 2020
The office of Susan Collins is taking credit for the changes:
Statement from @SenatorCollins spox @annieclark25: “Senator Collins and others raised concerns about the 24 hours of opening statements in 2 days and the admission of the House transcript in the record” (1/2)
— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) January 21, 2020
(2/2) “Her position has been that the trial should follow the Clinton model as much as possible. She thinks these changes are a significant improvement”
— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) January 21, 2020
This is a very Collins like move to do something that would make her seem like a moderate while, in the end, going along with Trump and McConnell in voting not to convict.
The overriding message is that Sen. McConnell doesn’t appear to have as much control over his caucus as his projecting to the media and the American people. McConnell’s trial rules are a little bit better, but this won’t be a real trial until the president is forced to turn over documents and witnesses are called.
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Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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