'It was very pointed': Josh Hawley highlights chief justice's unusual rebuke during impeachment trial
Sen. Josh Hawley drew attention to the admonition Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts made to the participants of President Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate. Hawley, 40, a Missouri Republican who formerly served as a clerk to Roberts, told Tucker Carlson on Wednesday that Roberts's rebuke was "really extraordinary." "I can say, as somebody who's actually worked for John Roberts, I have never seen him do that before from any bench that I've ever seen him sit on," Hawley said. "It was very pointed."
Roberts, 64, scolded both Democratic prosecutors and the president's defense lawyers in the early morning hours Wednesday, urging them "to remember that they are addressing the world’s greatest deliberative body. Those addressing the Senate should remember where they are." Hawley explained that the chief justice's remarks "followed immediately Mr. Nadler’s comments to the Senate, in which he said if senators didn’t vote for his amendment, then we were committing 'treachery.' That was his word, that we were voting against the United States. It’s really extraordinary to basically accuse senators of treason." "I'm not sure what the implication was supposed to be, except that we're being unpatriotic by not agreeing to their dilatory tactics," Hawley added. White House counsel Pat Cipollone said Nadler "should be ashamed … for the way [he] addressed this body."
Carlson agreed that Democrats were engaging in delay tactics, which Hawley explained as a move to placate their base. "They're playing to the MSNBC cameras," he said. "At one point, Adam Schiff actually said that, 'Listen, people are still watching in California.'" Hawley maintained that Democrats are not even attempting to expand their constituency at this point. "I don’t think this is about expanding the constituency at all," Hawley said. "I think that they know, already know how this is going to come out, and they're just messaging for it." He went on to say the Democrats "have no evidence" and that the entire process is "all about spin."
Carlson said that the impeachment proceedings seemed to be making a mockery of the government, to which Hawley agreed. Pinpointing Schiff's claim that the case against Trump "cannot be decided at the ballot box," Hawley criticized the lead impeachment manager for claiming that Trump cheated in 2016 and would do so again in 2020. "And, therefore, you have to protect democracy by overturning elections? That is their argument. It’s no wonder that they don’t actually want to have this trial."
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