Barney Frank: “I have watched with fascination the acrobatics of some of my friends on the other side who found themselves torn between…”

“I have watched with fascination the acrobatics of some of my friends on the other side who found themselves torn between pressures to vote for impeachment and pressures to vote against it. I was particularly struck by the letter written by four of my colleagues who voted for impeachment on Saturday and wrote to the Senate on Sunday asking them please not to vote for impeachment, noting that just because they had voted to put the President out of office did not mean they wanted anyone else to vote to put the President out of office. What they have argued is they are really for censure. Well, Members who have been engaging in that have to understand that with this motion the contortions have to stop. This is not an abstract motion to appoint managers in general. This is a motion to reappoint the specific managers who have gone over to the Senate and have said to them that they may not shortcircuit the trial; they must allow the managers to call witnesses, which we wish apparently they did before. We have a set of managers who have made it very clear that they are totally opposed to censure. They are opposed to anything in the Senate other than a full-scale trial. It is no longer possible for Members to engage in the game of saying that they are for censure, that they are not for a full trial and voting down the line to do exactly that. If we vote for the managers, we are voting for these particular managers.”