On Episode 103 of War Room: Impeachment Stephen K. Bannon, Raheem Kassam, and Jason Miller were joined by Senator Mike Braun to discuss the Senateâs potential to move forward with the impeachment trial.
Democrats are âstruggling with what to doâ with the articles of impeachment, Senator Braun told the War Room.
âThe House or the Senate Democrats?â Bannon clarified.
âBoth. I think theyâre in cahoots in the whole process,â Braun explained. He mentioned the Democrats may be waiting for âsomething to arise,â such as Boltonâs willingness to testify.
âAs a juror, you should be open to [a Bolton testimony]â, Bannon said. âYou want to get all the information out there. Donât you?â
âAs long as itâs fair,â Braun said. âLike it was not in the House. Once we get through phase one, and whether you go to depositions or live witnesses, we better not get rolled like we do most of the time.â
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Bannon mentioned Braunâs last appearance on War Room six weeks ago, saying: âyou were the first guy to say this shouldnât be a dismissal⊠I thought the whole [Senator Josh] Hawley part of it was to get this thing dismissed and not even go to a trial.â
âThat was to say there is some urgency to this, [House Democrats are] not going to control the time frame,â Braun explained. âThat is something separate. First of all, [Hawleyâs measure] probably wonât get a vote. Weâre talking around it. And we want to push the point [to House Democrats]: youâre dawdling, youâve got a weak case, and get it to the Senate.â
âOnce it gets to the Senate,â the Senator continued, âwe want a trial thatâs going to be done not in the way the House did it. Where the President does get a chance to vindicate himself. And if witnesses are needed after we hear one side and the other, weâll deal with that just like we did in the Clinton trial.â
Miller said to Senator Braun: âMitch McConnell is saying he has the 51 votes to proceed with essentially the Bill Clinton impeachment structure; that he has the votes ready to go. Nancy Pelosi is sayingâŠâhold on, Iâm still not going to send it over.â What is the exact state of play? Is Senator McConnell willing to go and start this thing and get this trial moving? Would you expect him to do that if he has the votes to do it? Or are we still going to wait around for Nancy Pelosi and her permanent fishing expedition as the permanent impeachment party tries to keep this going?â
âWhen it comes to Leader McConnell,â Braun responded, âthat would be his forte as a tactician vis-a-vis how heâs going to deal with Pelosi. I think being a traditionalist he is going to want to wait until the articles are delivered. But everything Iâm reading is [saying] we do have the ability to maybe start the proceeding without the delivery of the articles.â
âDo you think that we should?â Miller asked the Senatorâs opinion.
âI think as time goes on-â the Senator began.
ââTime going onâ being what? What is Senator Mike Braunâs red line?â Bannon asked for specifics.
Senator Braunâs red line is âwhat the Hawley resolution was. That I thought made sense. Thatâs by this coming Sunday,â he explained. âIf it doesnât happen shortly after that, we start looking at what we can do within the rules to get the thing started.â
âI donât think it benefits the President or anyone,â the Senator said about Pelosi leaving the articles on ice. âTheyâve got a weak case. That case needs to be delivered. We need to get it on and over with.â