Mitch McConnell knows this better than anyone, Donald Trump is expecting an acquittal, preferably as soon as possible. The head of the Republican majority in the Senate, master of the agenda and of the rules governing the dismissal trial which will open on Tuesday, January 21, must orchestrate the refutation of the two articles of impeachment voted by the House of Representatives, December 18, 2019. He will operate under pressure from the President of the United States. And from his Twitter account.
Donald Trump accused of abuse of power and obstruction of justice for having conditioned, according to the Democrats, military aid to Ukraine and an invitation to Washington for President Volodymyr Zelensky, to the opening of investigations aimed at his democratic political opponents.
On paper, the elected official in Kentucky has the necessary voices and know-how. Since reigning in the Senate after the Democratic defeat in the 2014 midterm elections, he has made the most of narrow majorities (51 and 53 out of 100 seats). With one exception. He suffered a dismal failure in July 2017 when he was unable to snatch the deciding vote of Senator John McCain who would have buried the reform of health insurance bequeathed by Barack Obama. Donald Trump's resentment was tenacious.
Undermining work
At the beginning of January, Mitch McConnell probably thought he was already winning his victory by obtaining the unanimous support of Republican senators so that the trial of the President of the United States would bypass the hearings of new witnesses. The few elected officials who had considered them had finally given up after a patient undermining work.
By declaring himself ready to respond to a subpoena, Donald Trump's former national security adviser, John Bolton, who is known to be hostile to the barter offered to the Ukrainian authorities, has inserted a first wedge into Mitch McConnell's device. New information confirming the Democratic accusations made public by the House on Tuesday January 14, after the green light from a federal judge, will again test its ability to hold its troops.
Remarried to Donald Trump's secretary of transportation, Elaine Chao, who had held the same position with George W. Bush, the Kentucky senator has often been underestimated. By delaying the transmission of the indictments in an attempt to obtain a commitment from him to accept new testimony, the speaker (President) Democratic House, Nancy Pelosi, took a gamble that she ultimately lost.
