McConnell takes heat from all sides on impeachment – By Alexander Bolton (The Hill) / Dec 17 2019
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is under pressure from Senate Democrats, House Republicans and President Trump when it comes to the fraught impeachment trial that is about to take over life in the Senate.
Democrats are making it crystal clear they’ll cast McConnell as a Trump stooge if he doesn’t run what they consider to be a fair trial. House Republicans, frustrated they didn’t get to call former Vice President Joe Biden or the anonymous whistleblower as witnesses, are demanding that McConnell put them in the hot seat.
And the GOP leader, who himself is up for reelection next year, is under the wary eyes of Trump and his own Senate caucus. Any false steps are bound to bring the heat — and even more pressure for the Senate veteran.
“There’s a lot of incoming right now,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), one of McConnell’s advisers, who mostly shrugged it off.
He made it clear McConnell can stand the pressure, just like he did during equally high-stakes Supreme Court battles over Judge Merrick Garland and Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2016 and 2018.
“He can handle it,” Cornyn said.
Continue to article: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/474817-mcconnell-takes-heat-from-all-sides-on-impeachment
