House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, one of the House managers, voiced his strong disagreement with McConnell’s proposed rules, arguing that the circumstances differ significantly from the Clinton impeachment trial.
“This resembles nothing like the Clinton proceeding,” Schiff told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Ahead of the Clinton trial, Schiff noted, more than 90,000 documents were admitted as evidence before trial, including material from the independent counsel’s investigation and grand jury proceedings. Under McConnell’s resolution, each piece of evidence would be subject to a vote before being admitted.
Schiff said many witnesses in Clinton’s case had already testified in the House, with several eventually providing sworn depositions in the Senate trial. In order to follow the Clinton model, witnesses who did not appear before the House in the Trump impeachment inquiry should testify before the trial begins, Schiff said.
The House Intelligence Committee chairman also decried the compressed timeline for the trial. These proceedings could conceivably go “well into the night,” when most Americans aren’t watching, he said.
“This is the process if you do not want the American people to see the evidence,” he added.
McConnell, Schiff said, has taken an oath to do impartial justice, not to move forward with a process in which American’s can’t see and digest evidence. If no documents or witnesses are presented, Schiff said the Senate would be complicit in covering up the president’s actions.
Asked which potential witnesses he would like to hear from, Schiff mentioned former national security adviser John Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, among others.
Schiff said the president should also have the right to call “material witnesses” in the trial.
