Senate Republicans say the first week of House impeachment hearings hasn’t moved the needle in their conference and question whether the proceedings consuming Washington have much traction outside the Beltway.
Sen. John CornynJohn CornynGOP divided over impeachment trial strategy GOP senators balk at lengthy impeachment trial Overnight Health Care: Trump officials making changes to drug pricing proposal | House panel advances flavored e-cig ban | Senators press FDA tobacco chief on vaping ban MORE (R-Texas), who is up for reelection next year in what is increasingly becoming a battleground state, and Sen. Lisa MurkowskiLisa Ann MurkowskiHillicon Valley: Federal inquiry opened into Google health data deal | Facebook reports millions of post takedowns | Microsoft shakes up privacy debate | Disney plus tops 10M sign-ups in first day Senators press FDA tobacco chief on status of vaping ban Federal inquiry opened into Google health data deal MORE (R-Alaska), a moderate swing vote in the upper chamber, for example, say their constituents aren’t even closely following the impeachment proceedings.
Although it is becoming increasingly clear that President TrumpDonald John TrumpGOP divided over impeachment trial strategy Official testifies that Bolton had ‘one-on-one meeting’ with Trump over Ukraine aid Louisiana governor wins re-election MORE attempted to use military aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenBudget official says he didn’t know why military aid was delayed: report Growing 2020 field underscores Democratic divide READ: Foreign service officer Jennifer Williams’ closed-door testimony from the House impeachment inquiry MORE, the bottom line for Republicans is that it doesn’t reach the threshold to remove President Trump from office.
“I just don’t think that a lot of my constituents are paying that much attention to it because they’ve got lives to lead and other important things to do,” Cornyn said.
“I think Washington being a hotbed of politics everybody here is obsessed with it but I don’t think the rest of the country is obsessed with it,” he added.
While the witnesses — all career government officials — have offered credible, detailed testimony, the hearings have made for less than gripping television, especially as the chairman and ranking Republican worked their way down the committee dais to give all of their colleagues a chance to ask questions in a process that took hours.
The testimony has provided some new revelations, such as acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor’s recounting a phone call between President Trump and Ambassador to the European Union Gordon SondlandGordon SondlandOfficial testifies that Bolton had ‘one-on-one meeting’ with Trump over Ukraine aid READ: Top NSC aide Tim Morrison’s closed-door impeachment inquiry testimony Top NSC aide puts Sondland at front lines of Ukraine campaign, speaking for Trump MORE in which Trump was overheard asking about investigations.
But many of the main points of the rest of the testimony have already been reported in the press and digested by GOP lawmakers.
“Alaskans are not paying much attention to the House impeachment drama,” Murkowski said.
“They’re seeing the headlines in their paper and know that it’s underway but I’ve been checking in with my staff that are working the phone lines, not just here in D.C. but around the state. I check the mail traffic coming in and it is not something that is occupying the waking hours of Alaskans right now,” Murkowski said.
Murkowski said she has staff tracking the public impeachment investigation and giving her updates.
“I got a download from yesterday and I will continue to get the highlights,” she said after Taylor and George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, testified Wednesday.
Sen. Ron JohnsonRonald (Ron) Harold JohnsonGOP divided over impeachment trial strategy White House releases rough transcript of early Trump-Ukraine call minutes before impeachment hearing Johnson opens door to subpoenaing whistleblower, Schiff, Bidens MORE (R-Wis.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, argued on Sunday that the whistleblower whose complaint spurred the impeachment inquiry acted unnecessarily.
He said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” the whistleblower “exposed things that didn’t need to be exposed” and warned it could set a precedent that will weaken presidential power.
“You know it’s going to be very difficult for future presidents to have a candid conversation with a world leader because now we’ve set the precedent of leaking transcripts, the weakening of executive privilege is not good,” Johnson said.
If the House passes articles of impeachment, it would then be up to the Senate, where Republicans control 53 seats, to hold a trial and decide whether to remove the president. It would take 67 votes to convict on any charge.
On Friday, Marie YovanovitchMarie Yovanovitch‘Saturday Night Live’ presents Trump impeachment hearings with ‘pizzazz’ of soap opera Trump makes social media player in impeachment White House official arrives to testify in impeachment probe MORE, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who was ousted from her role by Trump, testified that she felt threatened by the president and was “shocked, appalled and devastated” when she discovered that he called her “bad news” in a July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Yovanovitch also described how Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy GiulianiRudy GiulianiGrowing 2020 field underscores Democratic divide Top NSC aide puts Sondland at front lines of Ukraine campaign, speaking for Trump Bloomberg, Patrick take different approaches after late entries into primary race MORE worked with Ukrainian prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko to spread misinformation about her and force her to step down from her post.
But the opportunity to cross examine Yovanovitch also gave Republicans a chance to score points.
Rep. Jim JordanJames (Jim) Daniel JordanSix memorable moments from Ex-Ukraine ambassador Yovanovitch’s public testimony Democrats say Trump tweet is ‘witness intimidation,’ fuels impeachment push Live coverage: Ex-Ukraine ambassador testifies in public impeachment hearing MORE (R-Ohio), whom GOP leaders added to the committee for the high-profile hearings, questioned the former ambassador sharply about why she did not confront Ukrainian officials about alleged efforts by Ukrainian operatives to influence the 2016 American presidential election in favor of Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonGOP divided over impeachment trial strategy ‘Too Far Left’ hashtag trends on Twitter Resistance or unhinged behavior? Partisan hatred reaches Trump’s family MORE.
And Yovanovitch at another point told Rep. John RatcliffeJohn Lee RatcliffeLive coverage: Ex-Ukraine ambassador testifies in public impeachment hearing Latest impeachment developments: Republicans huddle ahead of Friday’s hearing House Republicans call impeachment hearing ‘boring,’ dismiss Taylor testimony as hearsay MORE (R-Texas) that Hunter Biden’s acceptance of a highly-paid board membership at Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company that had been under investigation, “could raise the appearance of a conflict of interest.”
The public hearings have also provided Republicans a venue to argue that none of the witnesses have direct firsthand evidence that Trump broke any laws.
Rep. Chris StewartChristopher (Chris) Douglas StewartIt’s time for Congress to establish a national mental health crisis number Republicans storm closed-door hearing to protest impeachment inquiry Diplomat says Ukraine aid was tied to political investigations MORE (R-Utah) on Friday predicted the public hearings had given Republicans a chance to reverse the political momentum on impeachment.
“Public support for impeachment is actually going to be less when these hearings are over than it is when the hearings began because finally the American people are going to be able to see the evidence and they’re going to be able to make their own determination regarding that,” he said.
Rep. Devin NunesDevin Gerald NunesFive takeaways from ex-ambassador’s dramatic testimony White House releases rough transcript of early Trump-Ukraine call minutes before impeachment hearing Live coverage: Ex-Ukraine ambassador testifies in public impeachment hearing MORE (Calif.), the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, predicted that few Americans had watched Friday’s proceedings.
“I hate to break it to my colleagues, if there’s anyone else out there watching television ratings but they must be plummeting right now,” he said.
A senior aide to a moderate Republican senator on Friday predicted that Yovanovitch’s testimony would not sway any opinions in the Senate Republican conference.
“She didn’t really offer anything new. Everyone knew Rudy Giuliani was out there doing goofy things,” the aide said, requesting anonymity to frankly assess the testimony.
The aide then questioned whether Yovanovitch’s testimony would break through with the American public.
“I don’t know how much the American people are really paying attention to it,” the source added.
But the Senate Republican aide acknowledged that Trump hurt his own defense by tweeting an attack on Yovanovitch as she was testifying about how she felt threatened by the president.
“It was really stupid of Trump to tweet in the middle of the testimony,” the aide said, predicting it could further erode support for the president among swing voters in suburban areas, a key demographic. “It was a mistake by him to tweet. I wouldn’t be surprised if several senators close to the president called him and told him to knock it off.”
As of Friday afternoon, there were not any signs that any Republican lawmakers in either chamber is any closer to supporting articles of impeachment against the president.
“I think that not one vote has moved as a result of the hearings. I think everybody is dug in and these hearings are more for the purpose of both parties trying to make their case to the American people than moving any votes,” said Brian Darling, a GOP strategist and former Senate aide.
The tone was set by the party line vote Oct. 31 on the resolution formalizing the procedures for the impeachment inquiry. Not a single House Republican backed it while two Democrats voted against it.
Sen. Mike BraunMichael BraunGOP senators balk at lengthy impeachment trial Senate GOP waves Trump off early motion to dismiss impeachment charges GOP senator: Republicans don’t have votes to dismiss impeachment articles MORE (R-Ind.) said the hearings “moved the needle the other way” — in a direction favorable to Republicans.
“We at least had some counterpoints and I think that was a day that is probably going to set the folks somewhat for the whole impeachment inquiry,” he said.
Braun echoed the statements of other Republicans that people aren’t paying much attention to the impeachment hearings up to this point.
He said “public opinion” in favor of impeachment proceedings “hit a ceiling two to three weeks ago” and predicted Democrats are “going to be in a predicament of trying to focus group their way into raising public opinion.”
“I think it’s going to make it politically a very tough calculation as to whether you follow through to take an article of impeachment vote,” he added.