The Senate impeachment trial proceedings are dragging on into the late-night hours because the House Democrats are repeating themselves, but they do not have any strong evidence against President Donald Trump, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said Thursday.
"If they had strong evidence, they would simply present that evidence and let it speak for itself, but they don't," Cotton told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "That's why what we heard [Wednesday] were repetitive arguments over and over again based on a little more than hearsay, and the House Democrats' objections to Donald Trump being the president.
"I expect, unfortunately, we will probably hear more of the same [Thursday]," he added.
He also ridiculed the lead impeachment manager, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., for his suggestions Russians could attack the U.S., and it was necessary to remove Trump from office because the 2020 election's integrity could not be assured.
Cotton added, he is getting the sense Republicans are "surprised" at how little there is to support the House Democrats' claims against Trump.
"If they had an overwhelming case, they wouldn't be demanding that the Senate do that work the House wasn't willing to do, subpoenaing documents and witnesses, or going to court if necessary to defend that," Cotton said. "They wanted to rush this through to try and hurt the president's re-election chances."
He added, he does not see any need for witnesses, because House Democrats do not have a good explanation about why they did not pursue witnesses or documents themselves.
"The only real explanation is they wanted to rush this through, be done before Christmas, and try to hurt the president's re-election chances," Cotton said. "If we get to the point where we call witnesses, I certainly don't think we should only have Democratic witnesses."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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