Sen. Elizabeth Warren explains the obvious to State of the Union host Jake Tapper when asked whether she can be an impartial juror after already saying she would vote to remove Trump from office. This administration has no defense for his actions and they wouldn't be obstructing first-hand evidence and witnesses if they did:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BASH: Is it a mistake for the senators on both sides of the aisle frankly, to say how they're going to vote before the trial starts?
DURBIN: I really think it is. I think they've gone too far. You know, how can they hold up their hands up and say “I swear impartial justice”? You can't do that. They shouldn't have done that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: That's the Democratic leader of the senate saying that you and others should not have said that you would vote to convict him. Is he wrong?
WARREN: Look, I have enormous respect for Senator Durbin, but understand this. What I said is enough evidence has been presented and so far Donald Trump has offered absolutely no defense. It is not like they've come forward and said, oh, wait, we want to present some other evidence and the other evidence is going to show something different. They've done nothing.
In fact, they have done worse than nothing. What they've said is that you can't hear from the witnesses who have first-hand information and you can't get the documents that you need to see to have more evidence about what's happening.
They are defying a court order. Remember about separation of powers? They were ordered to release documents and are refusing to do it.
So, the way I look at this is I see the evidence that is in front of us and I see the fact that they're not putting forward any defense, and I see that they are trying to block any access to additional first-hand information.
Boy, that tells me that this is someone who has violated the law, and this is someone who needs to be held accountable. No one is above the law, not even the president of the United States, and that is what impeachment is about.
It's not "impartial" to ignore all of the evidence the House has already presented and the fact that this administration is obstructing the investigation into their actions at every turn. If any of the witnesses or any of the documents Democrats have been seeking exonerated them, they'd have been turned over or testifying before Congress yesterday.
Sadly, Jake Tapper didn't think the topic of impeachment and Sec. Pompeo's part in the obstruction was worth asking him about during his interview preceding Warren's.
