Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell just earned his first new nickname of 2020: #MidnightMitch.
Responding to McConnell’s proposed rules for the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, Carl Bernstein, one of the reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal, referred to the Kentucky Republican as “Midnight Mitch.”
“This is the most important moment for the Republican Party since the censure of Joe McCarthy and the impeachment and resignation of Richard Nixon in which Republicans became great heroes and patriots,” Bernstein told CNN on Monday evening. “Now we’re looking at Midnight Mitch and the so-called world’s greatest deliberative body, really embracing a cover-up that is there for all to see.”
"We're looking at 'Midnight Mitch' and the so-called world's greatest deliberative body, really embracing a cover-up that is there for all to see. That's what this is about."
– Journalist Carl Bernstein reacts to Mitch McConnell's proposed trial rules.https://t.co/p3Q5INK6il pic.twitter.com/WuORPJnGQM
— CNN (@CNN) January 21, 2020
Bernstein took umbrage at the proposed trial rules, which McConnell put forth on Monday. According to a copy of the four-page draft organizing resolution for the trial, all evidence from the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry must be printed and made available to all senators before the lawmakers will be able to vote on admitting the materials at a later time.
Additionally, the Democratic impeachment managers and the president’s lawyers would be given 24 hours each to present their cases. Under these rules, each side’s presentations must take place over two working days in the Senate — meaning that presentations could go late into the night.
Votes on calling witnesses or documents will not be allowed until after the trial’s question phase. Senators will be given four hours to debate witnesses and documents.
The Senate will debate and vote on these rules Tuesday afternoon.
The House of Representatives passed two articles of impeachment against Trump on Dec. 18. After initially holding on to the articles until McConnell guaranteed a “fair” process, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., sent them to the Senate on Jan. 15.
Upon seeing a copy of the proposed rules, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., denounced the resolution setting up the trial as a “national disgrace.”
“It’s clear Senator McConnell is hell-bent on making it much more difficult to get witnesses and documents and intent on rushing the trial through,” Schumer said in a statement on Monday. “On something as important as impeachment, Senator McConnell’s resolution is nothing short of a national disgrace.”
As soon as Senator McConnell offers this resolution, I will be offering amendments to address the many flaws in this deeply unfair proposal and to subpoena the witnesses and documents we have requested. pic.twitter.com/g25Xl8RTmU
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 21, 2020
On CNN, Bernstein said that the rules are “about preventing information from becoming known and seen by the American public.”
“Other impeachments, including Andrew Johnson, including (Bill) Clinton, there has been no problem about knowing the truth of the facts,” Bernstein said. “We still have a factual problem here because the president and those who work for him, and Mitch McConnell have impeded the facts from the beginning.”
After Bernstein’s fiery comments, the hashtag #MidnightMitch trended on Twitter, with current and former politicians weighing in.
#MidnightMitch has already admitted he’s working hand-in-hand with Trump on the #impeachment trial & violating his oath to be impartial—but his proposed rules for the trial (holding the trial at 1am??) are yet more evidence that he’s helping the White House perpetrate a cover-up. https://t.co/L2TzAeUuuB
— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) January 21, 2020
“Midnight Mitch” is not the first alliterative nickname McConnell has received. Last July, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough called McConnell “Moscow Mitch” — which still follows him around today — for blocking two election security bills at the time.
When contacted by The Courier Journal for comment on Bernstein’s remarks, McConnell spokesman Robert Steurer responded with a copy of the proposed impeachment trial rules.
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Written by Ben Tobin. Cross-posted from the
Courier-Journal via the Kentucky Press News Service.