Mitch McConnell's stunning and outrageous admission that he is in the tank already for Trump on the trial rules, is a flat violation of the oath he will take as a juror. If a jury foreman in a murder trial was found to have worked closely with the defense he would be prosecuted.
But there are other questions. The rules set by the Senate for the Clinton trial were adopted unanimously after they were worked out mutually by leaders Daschle and Lott. McConnell voted for them! There is no reason to abandon them. But there will be a Senate debate and vote
on adoption of the rules McConnell apparently will write alone, in consultation with Trump and Pat Cipillone. From what #MoscowMitch has intimated, he might just push for a kind of summary judgment-- no trial, a vote for acquittal.
Or #MoscowMitch might just allow the House managers to present their case, the president's lawyers to present theirs, and do a vote without witnesses or relevant documents produced. If, on the other hand, he adopts a version of the Clinton trial rules, the House managers
will call Mulvaney, Bolton, Defense Secy Esper, Acting OMB Director Vought, Pence, Pompeo, and ask for the full tapes of phone calls to Zelensky and Putin. Chief Justice Roberts will rule on their admissibility, and the case is compelling.
So imagine the optics if #MoscowMitch got 51 votes to overrule the conservative Chief Justice. A blatant coverup. Collins, Gardner, Ernst, McSallySullivan, the two Georgia senators up next November, will have to choose, in each of these cases, which group of voters to enrage.
