Opinions
Trump should be very worried about Senate Republicans

By Jennifer Rubin, Opinion writer
Oct. 25, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. EDT

Think of Senate Republicans’ current antics protesting “secret” House hearings on impeachment — in which Republicans sit on the relevant committees — as not simply spurious (recall that Benghazi depositions were held by the House in private), but a warning sign to President Trump that his allies in the Senate seem altogether unwilling to defend him on the merits.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) pleads that he cannot comment on substance because he cannot separate that from the “unfairness" of the House process. (It’s fairly simple, honestly.) Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) claims he cannot comment on testimony he hasn’t seen that Trump used taxpayer money (in the form of foreign aid) to extort the Ukrainian government to interfere in our election. The problem with that: The testimony, at least the opening statement from acting ambassador William B. Taylor Jr., was released publicly this week.

No senator is saying openly that the president’s conduct is not impeachable. No senator is saying the witnesses lack credibility. No senator is saying it is perfectly appropriate for the president to use his powers to aid his campaign effort. There is a reason for that stunning silence: There is every reason to view this conduct as unprecedented, impeachable and amply provable through multiple witnesses and documents.

The “unfairness” excuse to attack the House is also of very limited duration. Next month, the House case will be put on in public. What excuse will Republicans use then?
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