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Democrats Accuse McConnell of Rigging Trump's Impeachment Trial

Reuters

   WASHINGTON - Democrats on Tuesday accused the top Senate Republican of
   rigging U.S. President Donald Trump's impeachment trial with proposed
   rules that would prevent witnesses from testifying and bar evidence
   gathered by investigators.

   Trump's trial on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress charges
   begins in earnest in the Republican-controlled Senate on Tuesday in a
   rare use of the constitutional mechanism for ousting a president. The
   Democratic-led House of Representatives approved the charges last month
   on a party-line vote.

   Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has vowed to
   coordinate the televised trial with the White House, proposed on Monday
   rules that would execute a potentially quick trial without new
   testimony or evidence.
   He unveiled a resolution that would give House Democratic prosecutors
   and Trump lawyers 48 hours, evenly split, to present their arguments
   over four days. Opening arguments are expected to begin this week and
   could well run into each night.
   Under the resolution, lawyers for Trump could move early in the
   proceedings to ask senators to dismiss all charges, a senior Republican
   leadership aide said, a motion that would likely fall short of the
   support needed to succeed.
   "That is not a fair trial. In fact, it is no trial at all," the seven
   House Democrats who will set out the case against Trump said in a
   statement on Tuesday.

   "A White House-driven and rigged process, with a truncated schedule
   designed to go late into the night and further conceal the President's
   misconduct, is not what the American people expect or deserve," they
   wrote.

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