Page 1081 - Leverage News Today

To their constituents and to say for posterity, at a minimum, this is the gambit, right? insist on some rules of the trial that dont turn into a mockery and then let the chips fall where they may at the end. i think thats where the leverage is, and thats what mitch mcconnell is trying to figure out. but the fact that he basically said its going to go a certain way and its going to go quickly and hes denying those witnesses to the democrats may mean that hes done the count, and he knows theres so...

Impeachment on opposite sides of the aisle, yon different committees. i just want to gauge all of you as you saw the speaker hedge on whether shes sending over the articles, what was your reaction? good idea? >> personally, no. i thought it interjected another layer of politics. if youre in the middle and youre still trying to figure out, is this thing for real, is it not for real, is it just political, for me this just drips and looks like more politics. im trying to shape the narrative i want ...

Happened and fascinating what speaker pelosi >> weve had a few weeks to prosesh this. but one of the elements i wassent thinking closely about is this is the first time weve-an impeachment when the two houses of congress are not controlled boy the same party. and thats what makes what happened tonight so interesting. before the same party controlled both houses. so it was a procedural matter. its now a political matter. this is the first time one of the houses has decided to test whether or not ...

This. americans expect a lot better than that. >> is there any serious talk among the democrats about maybe never sending the senate these articles of impeachment? is that seriously under consideration? >> no. he have never heard that discussion. at least within the talk news what if mcdonnell doesnt blink and he says there is not going to be any witnesses? >> i guess we will have to figure that out if we get to that point. but we believe that the speaker, in meeting with mitch mcconnell and all...

Even want to go to trial. they said impeachment was so urgent that it could not even wait for due process, but now they are content to sit on their hands. this is really comical. >> reporter: of course, jake, this is important because the house of representatives, they are having their very last votes of the year right now. not included in that, a vote on the house manager. thats a snag that we do not expect nancy pelosi to transmit those articles of impeachment before the new year. >> lauren fo...

Maximum leverage in court. there is an ongoing impeachment. at some point the courts will have to rule. they can now preface, why dont they go to the courts? senator santorum was saying, go to the courts. not a bad point. now she can go to the courts without delaying impeachment. the best of both worlds. >> coming up next, the presidents reaction. his attack on a grieving widow and her dead husband. the longest serving member of congress. also the lawmakers on voted to impeach -- one of the lawm...

Setting its rules for trial. this is now up to senator mcconnell and a majority of the senate. >> but according to the senate rules as they exist now, they need to have those articles delivered by nancy pelosi. again, the constitution says nothing about this. as far as the constitution is concerned, once youre impeached in the house, youre on trial in the senate. if the senate rules, add this half step where the house has to walk over and deliver the articles of impeachment. thats what were wait...

Mcconnell has every reason to play chicken. perhaps pelosi believes trump is so eager for a trial thats some leverage she can taked advantag of? i dont know. today we saw something that was rare. the impeachment of a president. forty-four individuals have been president. only three impeached. tonight we saw something unprecedented. >> what do you make of today from a political standpoint and historic as well? >> i dont think anyone saw this coming. there are a number of people making the argumen...

Legal team, tim, lets start off with you. i mean, it is historic, what happened today and then fascinating, what speaker pelosi. . >> weve had a few weeks to process all of this. the fact that there was likely going to be an impeachment is not a surprise. it is a very sober moment. one of the elements of this story that i was not thinking closely about was that this is the first time in our history that weve had an impeachment when the two houses of congress are not controlled by the same party....

Something, where there is actually no trial where he is exonerated. they do feel like they have some sort of leverage. we can debate whether or not thats true but they feel that. they also feel like they want to try to get at least what they got in the clinton impeachment, basically to have some sort of agreement on what the rules are going to be. ideally that would involve some people testifying. at a bare minimum to have some agreement on that. they say that would influence the type of house m...