Political Quotes

“I send a question to the desk on behalf of myself and Senator Braun. The CHIEF JUSTICE. Thank you. The Senator from Indiana and Senator Braun ask both parties the following question: We were promised by House managers that the evidence supporting each article of impeachment would be ``overwhelming'' and ``uncontested.'' Virtually every day, House managers have insisted that the Senate cannot have a trial without witnesses. Do both parties agree that the Senate has included in evidence in this trial the testimony of every single witness from which the House heard before they voted, except for the intelligence community IG report that Chairman Schiff kept secret? We begin with the House managers. Mr. Manager SCHIFF. Let me take this opportunity, if I can, to answer a few questions. First, is the fact that the testimony of the witnesses before the House sufficient to relieve the Senate of an obligation to have a trial? And the answer is no. There is no reason, and, indeed, every other Senate trial--impeachment trial in history--has involved witnesses who did not testify before the House. This will be the first departure. It shouldn't be if it is to be a fair trial. I want to quickly respond to a couple of other points. The question was asked: Why didn't we charge bribery? And the answer is we could have charged bribery. In fact, we outlined the facts that constitute bribery in the article, but ``abuse of power'' is the highest crime.…”