I feel oddly sanguine about this as it simply means the Democrats now *know* the fix is in in the Senate and have no motivation to do anything but continue investigating and litigating in the House because the Senate is aiding and abetting Trump's obstruction of witness testimony
As far as I'm concerned, this puts the matter of a Senate trial to rest. It's clear that the Senate, as currently constituted, has no intention of helping the House access information being illegally kept from it by the White House. So now the House must go it alone. That's fine.
The situation now is remarkably simple: Bolton has screwed himself and lost his argument to fight any House subpoena. The Senate has lost any argument that the House shouldn't keep investigating and litigating because *GOP Senators are demanding it*.
So Democrats should do that.
So Democrats should do that.
And if the Senate wants to try to preempt a trial, let them! An impeachment trial *can't be preempted by Senate vote*, and any Republican who votes for preemption will look like a flocking moron as more inculpatory evidence comes out *every single day* for the next *360 days*.
Then, if Trump wins in 2020 but Democrats take the Senate (or do so in 2022), you hold a Senate trial using the evidence you have now plus *1 to 3 years of additional evidence and articles of impeachment developed starting now*.
The Senate has *no* leverage over the House. None.
The Senate has *no* leverage over the House. None.
Trump is terrified of a trial. McConnell is terrified of a trial. And 51+ Republican senators are terrified of a trial. Which means no actual trial will be permitted. So what they've earned instead is *9 months* of investigations, litigation, public hearings, and document drops.
The list of scandals that haven't been investigated while the focus has been on *one aspect* of the Ukraine scandal includes the Trump-Turkey scandal, the Trump-Venezuela scandal, the Trump-China scandal, the Trump-UAE/Saudi Arabia scandals, and the *rest* of the Ukraine scandal.
There are 25+ witnesses the House has every right to get who are being blocked from testifying or refusing to testify. The House offered a negotiation in which only 4 (!) of the witnesses would testify. The Senate said, flake off. OK, let's see how tasty you find the alternative.
