Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has attracted plenty of notorious titles over the years, ranging from Moscow Mitch to the Grim Reaper to ‘ol Root-‘n-Branch.
Now we can add another one – Corrupt McConnell.
I’ve tagged McConnell, of Louisville, pretty frequently – and, I might say, justifiably – over the past few years and endeavored always to stay away from connecting him too closely with the dark side. Images with evil connotations are usually best to shy away from lest one be accused of playing God.
Better to stick with the truth – the worst majority leader of all time who will not be treated well by history.
But McConnell has now, with little doubt, toppled over the edge in his unforgivable handling of the impeachment proceedings brought against President Trump, aka President Extremely Stable Genius, aka President Great and Unmatched Wisdom by the House.
And the Senate trial hasn’t even gotten underway yet.
Regardless of anyone’s party affiliation, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to maintain that the charges posed by the House against Trump on Wednesday aren’t serious. In a nutshell, Trump brought pressure on the newly-elected President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to publicly declare he was initiating an investigation into the conduct of former Vice President Joe Biden, who has emerged as the Democratic Party’s leading contender to challenge Trump for the presidency in 2020.
The bogus claim, which has been investigated to death, involves Biden’s son, Hunter, and his position with Ukraine energy giant Burisma. Biden, as vice president, forced out a Ukraine prosecutor for failing to delve deeply enough into that nation’s corruption. Critics contend the prosecutor was actually looking into Burisma, jeopardizing the goose that laid the golden egg for Biden’s son, leading the old man to act.
The problem is Biden was carrying out U.S. policy at the time as well as working with the support of America’s European allies. Trump, on the other hand, held back aid to Ukraine and provided Zelensky with the possibility of an Oval Office get-together if he placed Biden on the spot, all to the benefit of his own self, something he does with amazing frequency.
In a country still reeling from Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election, Trump’s actions inducing another foreign entity, Ukraine, to take a swing at the American system is highly problematic and warrants the House’s decision to impeach, McConnell, on the other hand, is overtly coordinating with the White House in developing the trial proceedings, which is somewhat akin to the jury foreman asking Al Capone at his trial if his chair is suitably comfortable and how quickly does he want to be judged innocent. ‘Ol Mitch, in fact, told that stumblebum Sean Hannity, “Everything I do during this, I’m coordinating with the White House counsel. There will be no difference between the president’s position and our position as to how to handle this to the extent that we can.”
That statement, of course, gives the lie to any suggestion that the Senate will seriously consider the charges.
“I’m not an impartial juror,” McConnell said. “This is a political process. There’s nothing judicial about it. Impeachment is a political decision. The House made a partisan political decision to impeach. I would anticipate we will have a largely partisan outcome in the Senate. I’m not impartial about this at all.”
Bear in mind ‘ol Root-‘n-Branch made this declaration even though under the Constitution, which he leans on only when it suits his purposes, members of the Senate sitting in judgment are required to take an oath vowing to act with “impartial justice” while participating in an impeachment proceeding.
In other words, lest McConnell recuse himself, which is about as likely as Matt Bevin receiving a Man of the Year award from the National Center for Victims of Crime, he will be violating his sworn oath. And he will be doing so knowingly. This from a man who, it should be recalled, voted to impeach President Bill Clinton for lying under oath about a sexual encounter with a woman who was not his wife, declaring at the time “I choose honor” in rendering his verdict.
Apparently, to our boy Mitch, the penalty for violating an oath depends on who’s doing the violating. And honor has nothing to do with it.
It doesn’t end there. In developing the rules of engagement in the impeachment matter, ol’ Root-‘n-Branch has made it clear that the Senate will receive no testimony, meaning individuals within the Trump administration who could offer vital details yet refused to cooperate with the House investigatory committees — men like former National Security Advisor John Bolton, who, it is well known, was not a big fan of the president’s great Ukrainian adventure — will not undergo questioning.
McConnell this week called the House impeachment the “most rushed, least thorough and most unfair impeachment inquiry in modern history.”
What ‘ol Mitch fails to note in that statement is that Trump, in a highly edited transcript of a phone conversation with Zelensky, pretty much acknowledged the existence of a quid pro quo – investigate Biden in return for White House favors. He also fails to include the fact that several higher-ups in the administration, like Bolton as previously noted, rejected House subpoenas to testify under orders from that misfit at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
One has to wonder, if Trump is as innocent as a new born babe, as he claims, why is he scared to let Bolton and the others testify. And if McConnell is at all interested in the truth – he’s not and never has been – he would insist on getting officials past and present to testify and let the chips fall where they may.
Of course, when you’re dealing with Addison Mitchell McConnell, getting to the truth of anything is like trying to nail Jello to the wall. The truth is as foreign to him as the word “honor’’ has turned out to be. The only thing – and I mean the only thing – that concerns McConnell is maintaining GOP power in the Senate, truth and honor be damned.
And if that’s not corrupt, the word has no meaning.
The NKyTribune’s Washington columnist Bill Straub served 11 years as the Frankfort Bureau chief for The Kentucky Post. He also is the former White House/political correspondent for Scripps Howard News Service. A member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, he currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland, and writes frequently about the federal government and politics. Email him at williamgstraub@gmail.com.